No. 12 Albright 71, Lebanon Valley 62

LVC Starters
Cirucci, Chaklos, Carper, Troutman, Umbrell

Albright Starters
Joyce, Thomas, Harris, Mazzarelli, Lofton

How It Happened
READING, Pa. – A late Lebanon Valley comeback fell just short as No. 12 Albright edged the Dutchmen 71-62 in the MAC Commonwealth Semifinal game on Wednesday night. The No. 1-seeded Lions advance to the MAC Commonwealth Championship game where they will host No. 2 Messiah, who defeated Stevenson tonight by a 73-66 score.

By down 17 points at 48-31 at the start of the fourth quarter, the Dutchmen began to sink more shots and get more stops defensively. They began the final quarter on a 10-4 run to cut Albright's lead to 52-41 with 6:09 remaining. Later, with 4:30 left and the Lions up 54-45, Bridget Rothert nailed a 3-pointer to bring LVC to within six at 54-48.

After an Albright turnover, Kiely Chaklos was fouled and made both free throws, bringing the Dutchmen to within four at 54-50 with 4:17 to go. The Lions countered with three straight points to extend the advantage to seven at 57-50 with 3:57 left, but a good layup followed by a made free throw by Chaklos brought LVC back to within four at 57-53 with 3:43 to go. That, however, is as close as the Dutchmen would get, as Albright made free throws down the stretch and went on to win 71-62.

Albright got off to a fast start in the opening quarter with a 6-2 run that forced LVC to burn a timeout. From there, the Lions' Nina Mazzarelli took over and hit three 3-pointers and finished the quarter with 13 points as Albright took an 18-7 advantage into the second quarter.

In the second quarter, the Dutchmen slowly began to cut into the Lions' lead. At 6:23, Alexandria Lehman hit a jumper to bring Albright's lead down to single digits at 22-14. Lexie Lantz followed with a good layup and a free throw to make it a 22-17 game with 5:41 left in the second quarter. For the remainder of the period, the Dutchmen kept it close and were down by just seven at 30-23 heading into the third quarter.

LVC lost its momentum in the third quarter, as a 12-4 spurt to start the period extended the Lions' led to 42-27 with 5:16 remaining. From there, the teams traded off points and Albright took a 48-41 lead heading into the fourth.

Top Performer
 - Chaklos paced the Dutchmen offense with 23 points, including a 12-for-13 line from the charity stripe. The senior added four assists and five steals, to go along with five rebounds.

 - Rothert came off the bench and provided a spark, scoring 19 points on 8-of-15 shooting, including a 3-for-6 line from beyond the arc. Lantz finished with 12 points and five rebounds for LVC.

Inside the Numbers
 - Albright shot 48 percent from the field, while the Dutchmen shot 32.4 percent.
 - LVC shot 77.8 percent from the free throw line, while the Lions shot 60 percent.
 - The Lions' Nina Mazzarelli finished with a career-high 30 points, while Kelecia Harris (14), Alysha Lofton (10), and Jane Joyce (11) were also in double figures in points.