CHESTER, Pa. – The Albright women's basketball team rallied in the MAC Commonwealth Semifinals to earn an 81-73 overtime victory on Wednesday night at Widener to advance to the Conference Championship.
 
With the win, Albright improves to 22-4 overall and 12-4 in the MAC Commonwealth, while Widener falls to 21-5 on the season and 13-3 in conference play.
 
Sophomore Dejah Terrell led the Lions with 23 points in the victory paired with 13 rebounds for a double-double.  She has posted double-doubles in 20 of the 26 games this season and also added three blocks for the Lions tonight.  Classmate Gabby Boggs paced the team with 17 rebounds and tallied 19 points, on top of registering three blocks and two assists.  Sophomore Maggie O'Hare scored 12 points and also added a block.  All eight Lions stepping on the floor tonight scored points in the victory.
 
The first basket of the game was scored by Terrell off a good layup one minute into the game.  Widener tied the game at two apiece and the game was tied 8-8 again at the 6:05-mark and 10 each at the 4:38-mark.  Boggs led the quarter's scoring with five points and both Wassel and Amina added points from beyond the arc.  The Pride outscored the Lions 26-18 in the opening 10 minutes.
 
The second quarter opened with two good free throws from the Pride to extend their lead to 10 points less than 15 seconds into the period.  The quarter's scoring was again led by Boggs with four points and sophomore Kayana Chisholm added two good free throws to conclude the half as the Pride held the 10-point lead going into the locker rooms.  Widener outscored Albright 12-10 in the second and 36-28 overall in the half.
 
Albright kicked the third quarter off with a 4-0 run that decreased its deficit to six points by the 8:14-mark.  Within the next two minutes, Widener extended its lead back to 10 points and with 1:24 left in the quarter, took its largest lead of 11 points, 51-40.  Albright ended the quarter on a 5-0 run to close the gap to just six points with 10 minutes left in regulation, 51-45.  Boggs totaled eight points in the quarter while Terrell added four and O'Hare added a three-pointer.  The Lions gained four points on the Pride after outscoring them 17-13 in the 10 minutes.
 
Albright led the fourth quarter 22-16 to tie the game at 67 points apiece going into the final five minutes.  The quarter began with a three-pointer from senior Hailey Dayton for a score of 51-48 in favor of the Pride.  At the 6:18-mark, the Lions were within one point of the Pride, 56-55 off a good layup from Boggs.  With three minutes left in the quarter, Widener was up by four points, 65-61.  A good jumper by O'Hare brought the lead to two and a shooting foul on the play brought her to the line for a good free throw for a one-point game.  A paint layup from Terrell officially tied the game for the first time since the first quarter, 67-67, at the 1:49-mark.  Each team had three more possessions left in the game, but the remaining minute was scoreless.  Boggs added a block with 54 seconds remaining and Terrell blocked the final shot of the game to send the semifinal contest into overtime.
 
The opening minute of the five-minute overtime period was uneventful, and an Albright foul at the 3:57-mark brought Widener to the line for a 68-67 Pride lead.  A layup from sophomore Abby Gaffney brought the Lions to the front again, 69-68.  Over the next two minutes, Albright went on an 8-2 run, featuring six points from Terrell and two from O'Hare.  Three good free throws off Widener fouls from Dayton game Albright its biggest lead of the game, in the final score of 81-73.
 
Devan Rimmer led the Pride offensively with 23 points on going 7-of-16 from the floor, 4-of-10 from three, and 5-of-7 from the line.  Madison Ireland scored 16 points and tallied five assists, and Erin Phelan added 10 points for the Pride.  Kyra Schenk led the squad with nine rebounds on the night.
 
The Lions shot 43.8 percent (28-of-64) from the floor, 22.7 percent (5-of-22) from three, and 80.0% (20-of-25) from the line.  The Pride went 27-of-71 (38.0%) from the field, 7-of-19 (36.8%) from beyond the arc, and 12-of-18 (66.7%) on free throws.  Albright scored 46 points in the paint and 22 points off second chances, while Messiah scored 34 points in the paint and 20 points off 15 Albright turnovers. 
 
Albright will travel to Messiah on Saturday, Feb. 29 for the MAC Commonwealth Championship set for 7:30 p.m.