READING, Pa. – The Albright Lions women's basketball team will open play the NCAA Tournament on Friday evening when they will face off against Gettysburg at the Panzer Athletic Center on the campus of Montclair State University at 5 p.m. 
 
Tickets: The NCAA mandates the prices for adults at $7, and senior citizens, Students (with valid ID) and children at $4. All tickets can be purchased at the gate starting one hour prior to game time.
 
Live Coverage: The Montclair State sports information office will provide live video and live stats for the game at http://www.montclairathletics.com/. Live updates will also be available throughout the game on the official Twitter feed for Albright athletics (@AlbrightLions).
 
NCAA Tournament: Albright earned an at-large bid for the second straight season to the NCAA Tournament after falling in the MAC Commonwealth Championship game to Messiah on Saturday, 62-54. Meanwhile, the Bullets won the Centennial Conference on Saturday at home over Haverford by a score of 44-35 to earn the conference's automatic bid. The winner will advance to face the winner of Old Westbury/Montclair State in the second round of the tournament, and the winner of the second round game will advance to the Sectionals round. The four teams that make it out of the two sectional games for each side of the bracket will advance to the national semifinals at Rochester, Minnesota where the NCAA Championship game will be held.
 
Records: Albright enters the tournament with a 20-7 overall record with a 14-2 mark in MAC Commonwealth play. The Lions are 13-2 since the calendar year changed to 2018 with both losses coming to Messiah. They also tallied their fourth straight 20-win season in addition to a perfect 10-0 record at home. Gettysburg made their first appearance this season in the most recent release of both major D3 Women's Basketball polls on February 26th with a 25-2 record. The Bullets have won 15-straight games since a loss to NCAA Tournament team Haverford on January 9th.
 
Scouting the Lions: Albright ranked second in the MAC Commonwealth in scoring defense, allowing just 57.3 PPG, and third in scoring offense at 66.7PPG. The Lions also held the best rebounding margin in the conference, and have limited their opponents to just 35.5 rebounds per game which was also best in the conference. Three Lions rank in the top 10 in the scoring for the conference, all of which were selected to the All-MAC Commonwealth team. Seniors Nina Mazzarelli in 4th at 14.1 PPG, Alysha Lofton in 3rd at 14.2 PPG, and Devan Horka in 8th at 12.8. Lofton, the MAC Commonwealth player of the year, also leads the MAC Commonwealth in steals at 2.7, is tied for fifth in assists at 3.9, and is seventh in rebounding with 7.7. Mazzarelli led the conference with 2.0 three-pointers made per game, and Horka ranked second in field goal percentage at 48.5 percent.
 
Lions in the Playoffs: Albright is making its third consecutive appearance in the NCAA Tournament, and fourth trip overall. The Lions made its first appearance in 2007-08, and grabbed their first win in the tournament during the 2016 appearance. Albright advanced to the Sweet 16 in 2016 when they defeated Husson and Montclair State in games that were also held at Montclair State. Last season, the Lions defeated Piedmont before losing to Marymount (Va.) in the second round.
 
Scouting the Bullets: Gettysburg ranked second in the Centennial Conference in both scoring offense and scoring defense. The Bullets average 67.6 points per game, while yielding just 51.4 points per game. Gettysburg also held the best rebounding margin in the conference at 8.7 behind limiting their opponents to a conference low 32.3 points per game. Senior Emily Gibbons was named Centennial Conference Player of the Year for the second straight season after leading the conference with a 53.4 field goal percentage, while ranking second in rebounds at 11.4. Junior Emma Dorshimer led the team and ranked seventh in the conference in scoring at 14.4 points per game to earn All-Centennial Conference first-team honors.
 
The Bullets in the Playoffs: Gettysburg is making its sixth overall appearance in the NCAA Tournament, and first since the 2012-13 season. The Bullets lost in the first round to William Paterson in 2013 after reaching the Sweet 16 in the 2010 tournament appearance, the farthest the program has ever gotten in the tournament.
 
Series: The Bullets hold the series lead with a 15-9 record, and have won five of their last six meetings with the Lions that dates back to the 1991-92 season. This will be the first postseason meeting between the two schools.
 
Last Meeting: The two schools were both MAC members before the Bullets left after the 1993 season for the Centennial. Since then, both teams have met sparingly in non-conference games with the last meeting coming in the 2004-05 season. The Bullets defeated the Lions on January 7^th, 2005 at Gettysburg by a score of 69-52.
 
Head Coaches: Janice Luck has posted a 221-196 record in 16 seasons as the head coach of Albright. She is currently the winningest women's basketball coach in Albright history, and this is the fourth time overall that she has led the Lions to the NCAA Tournament. Under Luck, the Lions made the Sweet 16 in the 2015-16 tournament, and the second round in the NCAA Tournament last season.
 
Nate Davis is in his third season as the head coach of Gettysburg. In seven years overall as a head coach, Davis has compiled a 143-68 record between Eastern and Gettysburg. He led Eastern to their first ever appearance in the NCAA Tournament in his final season at the school in 2014-15, while achieving a new school record in wins. Davis has won 20+ games in two of his first three seasons at Gettysburg to currently own a 64-16 record at the school, and was recently named Centennial Conference Coach of the Year.
 
Up Next: The winner will move to the second round of the NCAA Tournament and face the winner of Old Westbury/Montclair State on Saturday, March 3^rd at 5 p.m.