Lebanon Valley 82, Arcadia 63

How It Happened
The Flying Dutchmen put together a key 11-0 run spanning the end of the first half and start of the second and never looked back in their 82-63 win over Arcadia in Monday's Commonwealth Conference tournament play-in game.

After overcoming the Knights' (12-14) hot hand from beyond the arc to begin the game, Bridget Rothert's buzzer-beater three-ball at the end of the first half sparked Lebanon Valley (18-8) and gave the home team a 44-35 lead heading into the break. Rachel Kelly's jumper three minutes into the second half put the Dutchmen up 11, Kaitlyn Van Tash's layup increased the advantage to 15 five minutes later, and LVC's lead ballooned to as much as 23 when Lexie Lantz converted a layup with 4:13 left to play.

Lebanon Valley quelled the visitors' early sharpshooting and ramped up the defensive effort early in the second half, converting Knight turnovers into transition points on the other end, including forcing turnovers on 3-of-4 Arcadia possessions over a 1:20 span. For the game, the Dutchmen swiped 12 steals and scored 25 points off Knight turnovers.
 
Notables
- Six Lebanon Valley players surpassed the double-digit scoring mark; the first time more than five players finished in double-digits this season. Peyton Carper poured-in 14, Bridget Rothert scored 13, Rachel Kelly netted 12, Taylor Umbrell scored 11, and Kaitlyn Van Tash and Lexie Lantz added ten each.
- Alex Lehman, playing, like Van Tash, in her first career postseason contest, showed no signs of intimidation and just missed the double-digit mark herself with eight points. She also added three rebounds, two assists, and a steal. Van Tash pulled-in four boards and also plucked a steal.    
- Umbrell recorded a double-double (11 points, 10 rebounds) in 32 minutes of play; the first time she didn't play a full 40 minutes in the last four outings.
- Kelly turned in one of, if not her best, performance of the year. She was perfect on the night, going 5-for-5 from the field and 2-for-2 from the foul line to net a career-high. She also corralled six rebounds and swiped two steals.
- Rothert keyed LVC's intermission-overlapping run, scoring seven of the team's 11 consecutive points. For the night, she had a game-high three steals.
- Facing the potential of playing four games in a week, Lebanon Valley had the chance to limit minutes for a number of key personnel including Alyssa Cirucci (29), Carper (25), and Lantz (15).
- Arcadia was making its first-ever appearance in the Commonwealth Conference Tournament.
 
Quotables
"Rachel had the night of the year for her, as far as her offensive production. But right now we're finding defensively, when we're in our zone, she's one of our better defenders in the middle and when she's rebounding, we're happy." - head coach Amy Sokaitis on senior Rachel Kelly's 12-point, 6-rebound effort off the bench.
 
Stat of the Game
32 - bench points for Lebanon Valley, led by 12 from Rachel Kelly and 10 by Kaitlyn Van Tash. Arcadia had zero.
 
Next Up
The fourth-seeded Dutchmen advance to play at top-seeded Stevenson (21-3) Wednesday at 6 p.m. The two teams will meet for the second time in five days after LVC handed the Mustangs a 68-64 loss in Saturday's regular-season finale.