MONTCLAIR, N.J. – The 2017-18 Albright Lions women's basketball season concluded on Friday night as they suffered a 74-65 loss to Gettysburg in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at the Panzer Athletic Center on the campus of Montclair State University.
 
The Lions will finish the season 20-8 to mark their third straight 20 win season, all of which included NCAA Tournament appearances. Meanwhile, the Bullets improve to 26-2 and will face Montclair State in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
 
Four players finished in double-figures in scoring for the Lions led by senior Nina Mazzarelli with 15 points behind a trio of three-pointers. Mazzarelli will finish with 1,369 points in her full collegiate career. Sophomore Zaria Mohamed provided a big spark off the bench for the Lions with 14 points and seven rebounds (six offensive). Senior Alysha Lofton posted 12 points to finish her full collegiate career with 1,012 points, while adding five rebounds. Senior Jane Joyce recorded a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds to conclude her four years with the Lions that saw her start in 114 of the 116 games that were played since her 2014-15 freshman season.
 
The Lions offense started slow in the first quarter as they went the first 4:25 without a field goal before junior MiKayla Lea hit a three-pointer to cut the Bullets lead at the time to 6-4. Gettysburg then went on an 11-3 run to take a 17-7 lead at the 1:21-mark of the first quarter before extending its lead to 21-9 at the end of the quarter. The Bullets finished the quarter shooting 72.7 percent from the field, while the Lions made just three field goals to total a 23.1 percent average. Gettysburg worked its way to its largest lead of the game at 13 points with 8:09 left in the first half before the Lions slowly started the claw back into the game. Behind Mohamed's strong play off the bench, Albright worked the Bullets lead down to eight points at 33-25 with 1:35 left in the first half. The Lions would outscore Gettysburg 6-2 in the final 2:01 of the half to make it a six-point game at 35-29 as they teams entered the locker rooms. Mohamed would score 12 of her 14 points in the second quarter.
 
Albright came out strong in the second half with six quick points in the first 1:11 of the third quarter to tie the game at 35. The teams then tied the game on three more occasions before Lea gave the Lions their first lead of the day at 44-42 with 3:19 left in the third quarter. The lead would change hands three more times before the Lions tied the game at 49 to conclude the third quarter. Back-to-back field goals from Mohamed and senior Devan Horka gave the Lions a 53-49 lead with 7:55 left in the game, and a three-point play from Lofton just 26 seconds later put Albright up 56-51, its largest lead of the game. Gettysburg then stormed back with eight straight points to take a 59-56 lead with 3:58 left in the game. Albright took the lead back at 61-59 with 3:04 left in the game behind five straight points but unfortunately for the Lions, that would be the final time they would lead in the game. The Bullets held the Lions without a field goal, and outscored Albright 15-4 in the final three minutes to advance in the NCAA Tournament.
 
 Albright shot 39.9 percent (24-of-65) from the field for the game and 4-of-15 from beyond the arc. The Lions went 13-of-17 from the free throw line, and held a 39-31 rebounding advantage. Meanwhile, the Bullets shot 47.9 percent (23-of-48) from the field after going 60 percent from the field in the first half. Gettysburg went 6-of-14 from beyond the arc, and went 22-of-29 from the free throw line. The Lions also held a 13-2 advantage in second chance points, and scored 20 points off 18 Bullet turnovers.