Trending
Going into the fourth quarter, it looked as if Albright was going to coast to another conference victory.
The Lions held a 16-point lead and were giving Lycoming problems all night long. Well, Morgan Mader and the Warriors had other plans.
Lycoming started the quarter on a 12-3 run and quickly made Albright use a timeout as the Lions saw their 16-point lead being burned down to seven in just a couple minutes. The Warriors played Albright tough, and led late with less than a minute to play, but Lycoming lost in overtime to Albright in a thriller, 92-88.
During that run of chopping down Albright's lead, scoring came inside from the duo of Kenzie Reed (16 points) and Erica Lutz (26 points and 14 rebounds). The duo was scoring at will inside and Reed got multiple and one's to start the quarter and was a perfect 7 of 7 from the field.
"They were both played so well together down low and were very effective and they work so well together. They had many huge buckets inside and that was one of those things where they (Albright) were big inside and we couldn't stop them and putting those two in they really just did a great job," said Lycoming coach Christen Ditzler.
After a Reed and-1 free throw, Mader (21 points) hit a big 3-pointer to make it a three-point game which was the lowest it has been since the first quarter. Moments later, Akilah McFadden (14 points) found Mader running down the court for an open layup which gave the Warriors their first lead since 11-9 in the first quarter.
Lycoming held a two-point lead with just seven seconds left but Dejah Terrell (31 points) made two free throws and Kayla Kline's last-second shot was no good at the end of regulation to send it to overtime.
Getting to overtime was a great accomplishment in itself after being down by 16, but the Warriors wanted more than that. Albright hit a 3 to start overtime, but Reed came right back and made another and-1 to tie the game back up. Moments later, it was Lutz finishing inside to make it a one-point game.
The Warriors struggled to close it out, however, and Albright hit its free throws to secure the conference win.
Not many people believe in moral victories but if there was one, it would be last night for the Warriors. Ditzler was very proud with the way her team fought and everyone on the court gave it their all until the very end.
"This game says that persistence does pay off in the end and we're continuing to improve. I thought we played great over the weekend and we certainly came in here and I thought we started out well, then we went into the tank and then of course we had a chance to win the game," Ditzler said. "I think we are headed in the right direction. The league is very tough this year and you got to bring your A-game every game but this was a game that I hope we continue to grow on."
Lycoming got many contributions from players Wednesday, but if the Warriors continue to battle like they did in the fourth quarter, they are going to be a very tough opponent in MAC play.
Albright 92, Lycoming 88
ALBRIGHT (14-0,5-0 MAC Com)
Dejah Terrell 11-26 9-10 31; Brady Wassel 7-13 0-1 16; Maggie O’Hare 4-11 3-6 13; Gabby Boggs 4-10 3-6 11; Abby Gaffney 3-5 3-4 9; Hailey Dayton 2-4 1-2 6; Amina Rauf 2-8 0-0 6. Totals 33-77 19-29 92.
LYCOMING (7-5,2-3 MAC Comm)
Erica Lutz 13-18 0-0 26; Morgan Mader 8-17 0-0 21; Kenzie Reed 7-8 2-3 16; Akilah McFadden 5-16 2-4 14; Kayla Kline 3-10 2-2 8; Kelly Vuz 0-2 3-4 3; Sydney Purcell 0-0 0-0 0; Allison Wagner 0-1 0-0 0; Emily Zoscin 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 36-72 9-13 88.
Albright 28 19 19 15 11 -- 92
Lycoming 21 10 19 31 7 -- 88
3-point goals: Albright 7-25 (Rauf 2-3; O’Hare 2-8; Wassel 2-6; Dayton 1-1; Gaffney 0-1; Terrell 0-6), Lycoming 7-20 (Mader 5-13; McFadden 2-5; Vuz 0-2). Fouled out: Albright-Terrell, Lycoming-none. Rebounds: Albright 44 (Boggs 12; Terrell 12), Lycoming 42 (Lutz 14). Assists: Albright 15 (Boggs 5), Lycoming 21 (Mader 7). Total fouls: Albright 16, Lycoming 19. Technical fouls: Albright-none, Lycoming-none. A: 165.