Janelle Ziminski was the lone constant for Lycoming as it welcomed in Hood College for its first women's basketball contest as Commonwealth Conference members.
Ziminski connected on five of her seven attempts from the field, including going two-for-four from outside the 3-point line. Her efforts were enough to keep Lycoming in the game, but a late push by Hood gave the visitors a 57-50 win in their first visit to Lamade Gymnasium.
Hood's late surge was helped by the fact Ziminski was called for her fifth foul with 6:10 left to play. After Ziminski's fifth foul, Lycoming only managed nine points the rest of the way as Hood (3-2, 2-0) closed out the game on an 18-9 run.
Ziminski opened the game hot for the Warriors.
On her way to leading the team in first-half scoring, Ziminski buried Lycoming's only trey of the half and pulled down two boards.
Once in the second half, Ziminski continued to roll. The Lycoming sophomore posted the first three points for Lycoming (0-5, 0-2) in the half, then buried her second trey to push Lycoming's second-half lead to 41-35.
Lycoming, which led 41-38 prior to Ziminski fouling out, couldn't get its offense going after that.
"She was bringing a great intensity to our offense and defense," Lycoming coach Christen Ditzler said. "That really hurt. It also hurt us in the first half when we have three players on the bench with two fouls each. Fouls are a big issue."
The Warriors committed 31 fouls as Scheller also fouled out. Kat Andriani and Julia Antonelli each finished with four fouls.
Andriani and Antonelli finished with 11 rebounds apiece as Lycoming finished with 45 for the game, one more than its average, but struggled on the offensive end which limited most possessions to a single shot.
"Sometimes we assume balls are going into the basket, because we shoot so well in practice," Ditzler said. "We tried to make an adjustment there and told everybody to go hard at the boards."
Ziminski helped lead the Warriors to a 13-8 lead midway through the first, but once in front, Lycoming's shooters went cold. Dyanna Prater, who finished with a game-high 19 points to go with 10 rebounds, was more than happy to exploit Lycoming's shooting woes and get Hood back in the game.
Prater cut Lycoming's lead to 15-11 with a trey and Rachel Kessler hit two free throws and added a layup to give Hood its first lead of the game.
Chelsea Henderson ended Lycoming's draught from the field by scoring the team's last four points of the half. Henderson's spurt helped the Warriors retake the lead after going nearly six minutes without a field goal.
Henderson's first bucket, a layup underneath the basket, gave the Warriors a chance at a three-point swing, but Henderson missed the ensuing free throw. One possession later, and Henderson gave Lycoming a 23-21 lead with her second basket of the half.
Lycoming's defense forced 21 Hood turnovers, but only generated 12 points off the giveaways. Hood, in turn, forced the Warriors into committing 17 turnovers, which it turned into 25 points. And of those 25 points, 17 came in the second half as Hood started to pull away.
"I was really happy in what our defense was doing," Ditzler said. "We got some turnovers. We got some 30-second shot-clock violations. But we didn't do anything then on the other end."
Ali Derr returned to the Lyco lineup after missing the four games of the season. Derr finished with four points and two rebounds in 14 minutes.
HOOD (3-2, 2-0 CC)
Dyanna Prater 5-16 6-12 19; Rachel Kessler 3-6 7-8 13; Emily Maerz 2-11 2-2 8; Rachel Wiley 1-5 2-7 4; Arianna Delerme 1-1 0-0 3; Sarah Marcello 1-2 1-4 3; Alexis Briscoe 1-3 0-2 3; Heather Boyce 1-2 0-0 2; Shakara Head 1-4 0-1 2; Ashley Fourcade 0-0 0-0 0; Olivia Hosch 0-0 0-2 0; Alexis Andrukat 0-0 0-0 0; Briana Lee 0-3 0-0 0; Verkia Smith 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 16-53 18-38 57.
LYCOMING (0-5, 0-2 CC)
Janelle Ziminski 5-7 1-2 13; Shannon Wheeler 1-9 4-4 6; Kylee Sutton 2-3 2-2 6; Chelsea Henderson 3-3 0-1 6; Ali Derr 2-8 0-0 4; Julia Antonelli 1-5 2-2 4; Victoria Kowalski 1-2 0-0 3; Kat Andriani 1-4 0-3 2; Rachael Scheller 0-6 2-4 2; Leeann Randall 1-6 0-0 2; Taylor Ford 1-3 0-1 2; Shanley Harlacker 0-6 0-0 0. Totals 18-62 11-19 50.
Halftime:?Lycoming, 23-21. 3-point goals--Hood 7-21 (Prater 3-6; Maerz 2-10; Briscoe 1-3; Delerme 1-1; Lee 0-1), Lycoming 3-20 (Ziminski 2-4; Kowalski 1-2; Scheller 0-5; Randall 0-1; Ford 0-1; Harlacker 0-5; Wheeler 0-2). Fouled out--Scheller, Ziminski. Rebounds--Hood 55 (Prater 10), Lycoming 45 (Antonelli 11; Andriani 11). Assists--Hood 10 (Maerz 4), Lycoming 12 (Scheller 5). Total fouls--Hood 20, Lycoming 31. Technical fouls--None. A-276
