READING, Pa. – Senior
Jane Joyce set the Albright Lions women's basketball career assists record as they concluded their regular season with a 62-57 win over Lycoming on Saturday afternoon in MAC Commonwealth play at the Bollman Center.
With the win, the Lions finish the regular season 19-6 overall and 14-2 in MAC Commonwealth play. Albright will enter the MAC Commonwealth tournament next week as the No. 2 seed, and will face Lycoming again in a rematch after they finished 17-7 overall with a 12-5 record in conference play to earn the No. 3 seed.
Albright celebrated Senior Day prior to the game as they honored their four senior players:
Jane Joyce,
Devan Horka,
Nina Mazzarelli, and
Alysha Lofton. Joyce would set the Albright career assists record in the second quarter and now stands at 384 assists for her career. Lofton led the way in scoring with 13 points on 5-of-8 shooting from the field, while tallying five rebounds, three assists, two blocks, and two steals in the win. Mazzarelli added 12 points and Joyce tallied 11 points, seven assists, seven steals, and six rebounds in addition to becoming the Lions all-time assists leader. Horka posted 11 points as well, and junior
MiKayla Lea registered 12 points and six rebounds to have all five Lions starters score in double-figures.
The game started as a close back and forth contest as the Lions held an 8-7 lead at the 5:23-mark of the first quarter. The Lions then used an 8-2 run to take a 16-9 lead at the three minute mark of the quarter, but the Warriors responded with a 7-2 run to cut the Albright lead at 18-16 to end the first quarter. The Lions started the second quarter on an 11-3 run to take a 29-19 lead with 5:56 left in the first half. Albright then extended its lead out to 14 points at 37-23 with 1:29 left in the first half following eight straight points after the Warriors cut the lead to six at the 4:43-mark. Lycoming finished the half with back-to-back field goals to bring the score to 37-27 at the half.
Lea helped start the second half strong for the Lions with five straight points to give Albright its largest lead of the game at 42-27 with 8:43 left in the third quarter. However, the Warriors stormed back with 10 unanswered points to cut the Lions lead down to 42-37 at the 3:32-mark of the third quarter. The Lions went 5:59 without a point during that span, while giving up six turnovers. Albright then outscored the Warriors 6-2 in the final 2:44 of the third quarter to take a 48-39 lead into the final quarter. A three-point play from Horka gave the Lions a 51-39 lead to start the fourth quarter, but the Warriors continued to claw back as they used a 8-2 run to cut the Lions lead down to 53-47 with 7:53 left in the game. Albright maintained around a seven point lead for the majority of the fourth quarter, and would not let the lead get under five points as they held on for the win.
Albright shot 41.4 percent (24-of-58) from the field for the game after shooting 48.4 percent in the first half. The Lions shot 5-of-14 (35.7%) from beyond the arc 52.6 percent, and 9-of-13 from the charity stripe. Meanwhile, the Warriors shot 40.4 percent (21-of-52) from the field, but went 2-of-12 from beyond the arc. Lycoming went 13-of-20 from the free throw line and held a 35-30 rebounding advantage which led to 10 second chance points. The Lions forced 23 turnovers which led to 22 points, while the Warriors grabbed 20 points off the bench.
Shelby Mueller led the Warriors with a game-high 23 points on 8-of-11 shooting from the field, and added 10 rebounds to register a double-double. Erica Lutz added 10 points off the bench for the Warriors on 5-of-8 shooting from the field.
The Lions will host Lycoming again on Wednesday, February 21st in the semifinal round of the MAC Commonwealth Tournament at a time to be determined.
