Box Score
ANNVILLE, Pa. – Senior forward Monica Johnson posted 21 points and a season-high 15 rebounds for her eighth double-double of the season while junior guard Jenna Gambino scored a career-high 16 points as Lebanon Valley defeated Widener University 65-57 in Commonwealth Conference women’s basketball action Tuesday evening at the LVC Gymnasium.
Lebanon Valley (5-9, 2-3 CC), which snapped a three-game losing streak, broke the game open with a 12-0 run early in the second half that gave the Flying Dutchmen an 18-point (45-27) lead with 12:43 left. The Pride whittled the deficit all the way down to five (62-57) with 15 seconds left, but the Valley came through with some clutch free throws down the stretch to thwart the comeback.
Sophomore guard Beth Dessart Mager registered 21 points and nine rebounds for Widener (7-9, 1-4 CC) while freshman forward Becky Tyler had 13 points and seven rebounds.
Gambino also had seven rebounds and a career-high six assists while sophomore forward Megan Bish, making her first start of the season, logged nine points, four rebounds, and four assists.
Dessart Mager had the hot hand early, scoring 13 of her team’s first 14 points. She shot 5-for-5 during the stretch and nailed a trio of 3-pointers as the Pride built a 14-8 lead just under six minutes into the game. Widener pushed its lead to eight (16-8) when sophomore guard Megan Sipple hit a pair of free throws with 11:54 on the clock, but that’s when the Valley climbed back into it.
Sophomore guard Amie Bickert broke a 5:33 scoring draught for LVC when she knocked down a jumper with 11:54 on the clock, making it 16-10, and Bish pulled the Dutchmen even (18-18) on lay-up with 7:48 remaining in the opening half. Lebanon Valley gradually extended its lead over the remainder of the period, and its lead hit double digits (33-23) when Butler dropped in a lay-up with 1:46 on the clock. Freshman guard Cathy Caramanico made it an eight-point game (33-25) on a lay-up 13 seconds before the horn.
Lebanon Valley shot 50.0% (15-for-30) in the opening half while holding Widener to 27.6% shooting.
The Pride trailed by only six (33-27) after a lay-up from sophomore forward Kelley Guarrera just under two minutes into the second half, but that’s when LVC embarked on its game-breaking 12-0 run. Gambino and Bickert got things started with back-to-back conventional 3-point plays, and Johnson capped the surge with a jumper in the paint.
It was a 16-point game (53-37) with 6:45 left after a Johnson lay-up, but Widener rallied with a 10-2 run to reduce the deficit to single digits (55-47) following a Dessart Mager lay-up with 3:49 to go.
Johnson hit the second of two free throws with 57 seconds to go, pushing LVC’s lead back into double digits (60-50) before the Pride pulled to within five after lay-ups from freshman guard Rayne Reber and Dessart Mager and a three-pointer from sophomore guard Barbara Fleming with 15 ticks showing. However, sophomore guard Donna Geiger hit the first of two free throws wit 12 seconds left, and Widener’s final comeback hopes evaporated when errant Fleming 3-ball was rebounded by Gambino with six seconds remaining.
Lebanon Valley picks up its Commonwealth Conference schedule on Saturday, when it visits Susquehanna University at 1 p.m.
[Photo - Junior guard Jenna Gambino, who scored a career-high 16 points in Lebanon Valley's 65-57 win over Widener on Tuesday]
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