Box Score

CHESTER, Pa. – Senior forward Tamika Rogers posted 18 points and nine rebounds while senior center Jennifer Northcott had 15 points and a game-high 14 rebounds as Lebanon Valley held off a late rally to defeat host Widener 74-66 in Commonwealth Conference women’s basketball action Tuesday evening.

Lebanon Valley (9-4, 3-2 CC) won its seventh straight game over Widener (10-6, 3-2 CC), which lost for the first time in six games.

Five different players reached double figures in scoring for the Valley. Sophomore forward Monica Johnson recorded 14 points and six rebounds in 17 minutes off the bench while senior guard Erin Eaby had 11 points and four steals. Sophomore guard Allie Butler added 10 points and five assists.

Junior center Celeste Baumgardner led the Pioneers with a game-high 21 points. Junior forward Chelsea Luhta added 16 points while junior guard Linette Babiarz handed out a game-high eight assists.

LVC out-rebounded Widener 42-28. With her first rebound, Northcott, who logged her seventh double-double of the season, passed Darren Pugh ’03 to become the all-time leading rebounder in Lebanon Valley men’s and women’s basketball history. She currently has 950 career rebounds.

Widener trailed 45-29 at halftime but pulled to within one (67-66) with 2:43 left after a Babiarz free throw capped a 13-5 Pioneer run. However, Widener was unable to score the rest of the way, missing its final four shots and turning the ball over twice. In the meantime, LVC iced the game by making five of its final six free throws.

LVC jumped out to a double-digit lead (20-10) with 12:32 left in the opening half after a lay-up from senior guard Crystal Gibson. The Pioneers trailed 24-18 with 9:15 left in the opening stanza following a three-pointer from sophomore guard Kelli Murphy, but that’s when the Valley went on an 11-2 run, capped by a conventional three-point play from Rogers, to go ahead 35-20 with 4:37 to go in the half.

Lebanon Valley shot 48.4% from the field for the game, the team’s best performance since shooting a season-high 52.0% against Johns Hopkins on Dec.2.

LVC picks up its schedule on Saturday, when it hosts Elizabethtown at 3 p.m. in the second game of a men’s and women’s Commonwealth Conference doubleheader.

[Photo - Senior forward Tamika Rogers, who had 18 points and nine rebounds in a 74-66 win over Widener]

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