READING, Pa. – The Albright Lions women's basketball team used a red shot start in the first quarter to defeat Lycoming in the MAC Commonwealth Tournament semifinals by a score of 56-45 on Wednesday night at the Bollman Center.
 
With the win, the Lions improve to 20-6 overall on the season and advance to the MAC Commonwealth Tournament finals for the fourth straight season. Meanwhile, the Warriors drop to 17-7 on the season overall.
 
Senior Devan Horka led the Lions in scoring with a game-high 18 points and added seven rebounds in the win. Junior MiKayla Lea added 10 points and fell just short of a double-double with nine rebounds. Senior Jane Joyce posted a game-high nine assists along with nine rebounds and six points, while classmate Nina Mazzarelli tallied seven points and seven assists.
 
The Lions dominated from the start as they raced out to a 19-2 lead over the first seven minutes of the game. During that span, Albright held the Warriors to 1-of-12 from the field and made eight field goals. Lycoming then went on a run of 11 straight points after the Lions held a 21-5 lead that lasted into the second quarter to cut the Lions lead down to 21-16. Albright nearly went a full 10 minutes without a field goal before Horka made a layup at the 4:18-mark of the second quarter. Lea then made a three-pointer with 3:17 left in the half to give the Lions a 10-point lead at 26-16 headed into halftime despite just scoring five points in the second quarter.
 
The teams traded baskets for the first part of the third quarter, but the Lions did not let the lead get down into single digits for the duration of the whole quarter. Albright was able to extend its lead to its largest of the game at 45-27 at the 1:39-mark of the third quarter following an 8-2 run, and held a 45-30 lead headed into the fourth quarter. The Warriors made one last charge with a 12-2 run that started at the end of the third quarter to bring the Lions lead down to eight with 7:19 left in the game, but would get no closer. The Lions used a 9-2 run to pull away from Lycoming, behind five straight points from freshman Alli Marcus, to take a 56-41 lead with 4:05 left.
 
Albright shot 36.9 percent (24-of-65) from the field and 4-of-8 from beyond the arc, with three of them coming in the first half. The Lions went 4-of-6 from the free throw line and scored 14 points off 15 Lycoming turnovers. Meanwhile, the Warriors shot just 28.8 percent (19-of-66) from the field after going just 21.8 percent from the field in the first half. Lycoming went 2-of-14 from beyond the arc as well along with 5-of-9 from the free throw line. The Warriors scored 17 points off 17 Lions turnovers.
 
The Lions held MAC Commonwealth leading scorer, Shelby Mueller, to just eight points after she scored 23 on the Lions in Saturday's regular season matchup. Becca Painter led the Warriors with 12 points on 5-of-9 shooting from the field.
 
Albright will now face nationally ranked Messiah on the road on Saturday, February 24^th for the MAC Commonwealth Championship for the third straight year with at 3 p.m.