Box Score

ANNVILLE, Pa. – Freshman forward Megan Bish scored a game-high 26 points and junior guard Allie Butler missed a triple-double by one rebound, leading the Lebanon Valley College women’s basketball team to a 89-65 win over Arcadia University in LVC’s season-opening Rinso Marquette Tournament on Friday evening in the LVC Gymnasium.

With the win, Lebanon Valley advances to the Rinso Marquette championship game for the third year in a row and will face Delaware Valley College, a 67-55 winner over Roanoke College in the other first-round game. Roanoke will take on Arcadia at 1 p.m. in the consolation game prior to the championship tilt, which is set for 3 p.m.

Butler finished with 12 points, a career-high 10 assists, and a career-high nine rebounds. She also missed tying the school record for assists in a game by one.

Junior forward Monica Johnson added 16 points on 8-for-10 shooting to go with six rebounds and a career-high four blocks while sophomore guard Jenna Gambino and freshman guard Amie Bickert had 12 points apiece. Bish added eight rebounds.

Sophomore forward Caitlin Sparks led Arcadia with 16 points while grad-student forward Becky Soda had 14 points and 10 rebounds.

Lebanon Valley shot 52.0% for the game and set a women’s gymnasium record for points scored in a game.

The game was extremely close in the early going, with seven ties and 11 lead changes over the first 10 minutes. But that’s when LVC used an elongated 13-2 run, capped by a Bickert three-pointer, that lasted nearly five minutes to take an 11-point lead (38-27) with 4:34 left in the opening half. LVC took a 46-35 lead into the locker room.

Johnson was quiet in the first half, scoring just four points, but she came alive at the start of the second stanza, as she reeled off eight straight points to lead a 10-4 LVC surge, giving the Valley a 56-39 lead with 15:27 left. The Knights trailed by 14 (70-56) with 6:25 to go before an 8-1 Dutchman run, fueled by five points from Bish and capped by another Bickert trey, pushed LVC’s advantage to 21 (78-58). Arcadia was unable to cut the deficit to under 19 the rest of the way.

[Photo - Junior guard Allie Butler, who had 12 points, nine rebounds, and 10 assists in Lebanon Valley's 89-65 win over Arcadia in the first round of the Rinso Marquette Tournament on Friday]

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