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Lyco women lose at home

Lycoming’s women’s basketball playoff hopes continued to look viable after the team scored its biggest win of the season over Alvernia.

And, hoping the keep the momentum rolling, the Warriors opened Saturday’s contest against Widener with a 6-1 run. Racheal Scheller, fresh off of nearly posting a triple-double in Lycoming’s win over Alvernia, opened the contest with a 3-pointer.

From that point on, though, it was all Widener as fouls piled up for Lycoming. The Pride were quick to exploit the foul trouble as three players finished in double figures to help topple the Warriors 80-59 at Lamade Gymnasium.

Early on Lycoming’s offense looked good, but two costly fouls by Julia Antonelli and then three by Ali Derr slowed it down. Both players were on the bench in foul trouble midway through the first half.

“It really hurt us as soon as they picked up their fouls,” Lycoming coach Christen Ditzler said. “Julia gets those two fouls and I took a chance leaving Derr in. We were doing some nice things early on and that took us out of the flow.”

With two of Lycoming’s biggest threats inside the paint in foul trouble, Widener focused on the weakness, outscoring the Warriors 36-14 in points in the paint. The Pride, led by Kate Dellinger’s 13, outrebounded the Warriors, 53-33.

In a 64-44 route at Alvernia earlier, Lycoming’s (5-13, 5-7 MAC) biggest win of the season, Antonelli and Derr combined to pull down 12 rebounds and score 18 of the Warriors points. In Saturday’s showdown with Widener, the pair combined for one first half point and both were held without a rebound in the first half.

The results of Widener’s constant pressure inside the paint were two devastating runs through the first half.

“The fouls compounded everything and Widener just ran with it,” Ditzler said. “They knew our star was on the bench and they took advantage of it. That’s what good teams do.”

Widener’s first run came on the heels of Lycoming’s 6-1 surge to open the game. Once in front by five, Lycoming’s defense took a hit with both Derr and Antonelli being pulled. Lil Carney then highlighted a 12-0 run by Widener (15-4, 10-2 MAC) with an assist and five points through the surge.

“If those kids were on the floor and weren’t in foul trouble, we could have done a much better job,” Ditlzer said. “Widener is a very good basketball team. Player for player they are tops in the league.”

Shanley Harlacker, fresh off a season-high 12-point performance in Lycoming’s 64-44 win over Alvernia, buried a trey to stop the initial run. Shannon Wheeler (9 points, 2 assists) then added a layup for a quick five-point swing. Taylor Ford also followed a Vanessa Hejnas free throw with her second 3-pointer of the half.

“We did hit some nice outside shots, and that’s a change for us,” Ditzler said. “That was promising. We also did some nice things with their turnovers.”

Ford led all Lycoming first-half scorers with six points. More importantly, though, she provided a spark off the bench and twice stopped Widener runs with 3-pointers. Ford went on to finish with seven points.

WIDENER (15-4, 10-2 CC)

Lil Carney 5-8 3-4 15; Brianna Wylie 5-8 2-4 12; Courtney Colella 4-6 4-4 12; Vanessa Hejnas 3-6 3-5 9; Jennifer Egee 3-9 2-2 9; Kate Dellinger 2-11 0-0 6; Kristina Reiter 2-5 0-0 5; Francesca Lee 2-3 0-0 4; Ally Ferrucci 0-0 3-4 3; Sarah Engman 1-1 0-0 2; Aleia Glick 1-1 0-0 2; Joanna Persiano 0-2 1-2 1; Nikki Sutliff 0-0 0-0 0; Raven Jones 0-0 0-0 0; Paige Davis 0-0 0-0 0; Caitlin Horan 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 28-61 18-25 80.

LYCOMING (5-13, 5-7 CC)

Rachael Scheller 4-13 0-0 11; Olivia Manges 4-8 1-4 11; Shannon Wheeler 2-8 4-5 9; Taylor Ford 2-4 1-2 7; Victoria Siebecker 2-4 1-2 6; Julia Antonelli 1-3 4-4 6; Chelsea Henderson 1-7 1-3 3; Shanley Harlacker 1-4 0-0 3; Janelle Ziminski 1-3 0-0 2; Ali Derr 0-2 1-2 1; Victoria Kowalski 0-2 0-0 0; Kat Andriani 0-4 0-0 0; Jenna Morgan 0-0 0-0 0; Leeann Randall 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 18-65 13-22 59.

Halftime: Widener, 35-18. 3-point goals–Widener 6-21 (Dellinger 2-5; Carney 2-5; Reiter 1-4; Egee 1-5; Persiano 0-2), Lycoming 10-28 (Scheller 3-7; Ford 2-3; Manges 2-3; Harlacker 1-3; Siebecker 1-3; Wheeler 1-5; Kowalski 0-2; Randall 0-1; Ziminski 0-1). Fouled out–None. Rebounds–Widener 53 (Dellinger 13), Lycoming 33 (Manges 7). Assists–Widener 20 (Dellinger 5), Lycoming 16 (Scheller 3; Ziminski 3). Total fouls–Widener 19, Lycoming 18. Technical fouls–None. A-685

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