Box Score

ANNVILLE, Pa. – Senior forward Stephanie Tighe (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Cumberland Valley) exploded for a career-high 42 points and set three different school records, but No. 18 Lebanon Valley came up on the short end of a 98-94 overtime decision to Moravian College in Commonwealth Conference women's basketball action Saturday afternoon in Lynch Gymnasium.

LVC lost for the first time this season and fell to 5-1 and 1-1 in the conference. Moravian hiked its record to 3-2 and 2-0 in conference action.

Junior guard Kim Hughes scored a team-high 25 points for the Greyhounds. Senior center Kelly McLean added 23 and became the program's 14th 1,000-point scorer.

Sophomore guard Crystal Gibson (Randallstown, Md./Randallstown) scored 16 points and handed out a game and career-high 10 assists for LVC. Sophomore center Jennifer Nortcott (Horsham, Pa./Hatboro-Horsham) chipped in with 12 points and a game and season-high 14 rebounds.

Tighe hit a pair of free throws, the 1,366th and 1,367th points of her career, with 1:13 left in regulation to move past Steph Smith '87 as Lebanon Valley's all-time leading scorer. Her 42 points marked an LVC single-game record, and her 19 free throws were also a Lebanon Valley single-game best. Amy Jo Rushanan '96 held both of the previous single-game scoring records, as she scored 38 points and made 15 free throws on Feb. 6, 1993.

Tighe, who scored 27 points in the second half, nearly willed the Valley to an improbable comeback victory. With LVC trailing by nine (77-68) with 4:45 left in regulation, she scored 13 of her team's final 16 points to force overtime. Her lay-up with 50 seconds left gave LVC its first lead since early in the second half. However, McLean's jumper 10 seconds later made it 83-82 in favor of the Greyhounds, setting up a wild finish.

With 18 seconds to go, Hughes picked off a pass by freshman guard Min-Leigh Myers (Lancaster, Pa./Lancaster Catholic) and was fouled immediately. Hughes made the second of two free throws before Gibson took the inbounds pass, raced the length of the floor, and dropped in a twisting lay-up to tie the game at 84 with 10 seconds to go. Then in the closing seconds of the game, Tighe stripped Hughes of the ball in the frontcourt, dribbled to the other end of the floor and launched a runner just inside the LVC three-point as time expired. But her shot was long and caromed harmlessly off the glass.

In overtime, senior guard Tara Wozniak hit a pair of free throws with 2:04 left to put Moravian on top 90-89 and give the Greyhounds the lead for good. Gibson cut it to 96-92 on a lay-up with 12 seconds left and her jumper from the right baseline made it 97-94 with four ticks remaining, but Hughes sealed Moravian's victory with a free throw with 1.7 seconds left.

The Greyhounds shot 57.7 percent from the field and 66.7 percent from three-point range in the first half and raced out to a 24-12 lead with 7:52 to go in the opening period. Moravian led by as much as 10 (33-23) with 4:17 to go before the Valley went on a 17-7 run to tie the game at 40 with 51 seconds left. Junior guard Sarah Onkotz nailed a three-pointer with 33 seconds on the clock and Moravian took a 43-40 lead into the locker room.

In the second half, LVC held a one-point edge on three different occasions over the opening 1:52. However, a jumper by McLean 2:32 into the half sparked a 10-0 'Hound run over the next 2:16 as Moravian took a nine-point lead (58-49) with 14:38 left. The Valley pulled to within three (65-62) with 10:31 left but Moravian used an 8-2 spurt to restore its nine-point edge (73-64) with 6:40 to go.

Moravian shot 50.8 percent from the floor and 58.8 (10-of-17) from downtown for the game. However, the Greyhounds made just 63.4 percent (27-of-41) of their shots from the charity stripe.

LVC hit on 44.4 percent of its shots from the floor but only 8.3 percent (1-of-12) from beyond the arc. At the free throw line, the Valley was 29-of-37 (78.4 percent).

Tighe shot 19-of-20 from the free throw line to improve to 39-of-41 for the season. She also pocketed a career-high six steals.

Wozniak finished with 16 points for Moravian.

Lebanon Valley will take 20 days off for winter break before hosting McDaniel College (Md.) in non-conference action on Jan. 4 at 2 p.m.

[Photo - Stephanie Tighe becomes the Lebanon Valley College women's basketball all-time leading scorer with this free throw.]

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