Box Score
ANNVILLE, Pa. – Senior forward Monica Johnson scored a game-high 22 points, but Albright College held off a late LVC rally and the Lady Lions recorded a 61-47 Commonwealth Conference victory over Lebanon Valley Tuesday evening at the LVC Gymnasium.
With one Commonwealth Conference game remaining on its schedule, Lebanon Valley (7-16, 4-9 CC) now finds itself one-and-a-half games out of the fourth and final conference playoff spot. No other Commonwealth games were played Tuesday evening due to inclement weather.
After trailing by as much as 12 in the second half, LVC closed to within three (45-42) with 8:30 remaining after a 3-pointer from freshman guard Jill Ryba. But Albright (17-7, 10-3 CC) answered with a 9-0 run and outscored the Dutchmen 16-4 the rest of the way.
Marie Levins scored 18 points to lead the Lady Lions while Jaqueline Hardwick tallied 12 points. Staci Waligorski contributed 11 points and nine rebounds in 20 minutes off the bench.
Ryba finished with a season-high nine points on 3-of-6 shooting from beyond the arc.
Albright led by only three (13-10) after a Johnson lay-up with 13:23 to go in the first half. But the Valley failed to score over the next seven minutes, and in the meantime Albright went on an 8-0 run to open up an 11-point advantage (21-10) following an Annie McMahon lay-up with 10:41 on the clock. LVC scored the next four points on a lay-up and a pair of free throws from Johnson to pull to within seven with 5:23 on the clock. It was eight-point game (27-19) after a 3-pointer from Ryba with 18 seconds remaining before a Hardwick jumper with six ticks showing gave Albright a 29-19 halftime lead.
The Lions saw their lead hit 12 (33-21) on a Bizzarro jumper with 18:46 left before the Valley came back with an 11-2 run to cut the deficit to four (35-31) following a Johnson lay-up. However, Albright stormed back with an 8-0 outburst, with Waligorski scoring six along the way, to restore its 12-point advantage with 12:42 left.
Lebanon Valley dialed long distance to make their final run of the game. Ryba canned a trey with 10:48 remaining to pull LVC to within single digits (45-36), and junior guard Donna Geiger nailed a long shot with 9:03 on the clock to make it a 45-39 game before Ryba’s final 3-pointer. LVC was unable to get closer than nine the rest of the way.
The Lady Lions shot 56.5% from the floor in the second half and finished at 42.4% for the game. Lebanon Valley connected on 33.3% of its shots.
The Dutchmen play their regular season finale on Saturday, when they host Susquehanna University at 1 p.m. on Senior Day and Hot Dog Frank Day.
[Photo - Freshman guard Jill Ryba, who scored a season-high nine points against Albright on Tuesday]
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