Misericordia 72, Lebanon Valley 69
 
LVC Starters
Lehr, Bamberger, Kline, Mealey, Venezia
 
Misericordia Starters
Carroll, Sefcik, Zamolyi, Carmody, Wampole
 
How It Happened
Lebanon Valley erased a massive fourth-quarter deficit, but Misericordia was able to escape with a narrow 72-69 win over the Dutchmen on Wednesday afternoon in non-conference women's basketball action. LVC evened its record at 6-6, while the Cougars, who received votes in the latest D3Hoops.com poll, stayed undefeated and improved to 10-0.
 
After falling behind by 15 at 63-48 with 8:08 remaining in the fourth quarter, the Dutchmen went on a quick 6-0 run, including four points from Emily Mealey, to come to within nine of Misericordia at 63-54 with just 5:32 left in the game. Later, with 4:16 to go, Anne Lehr knocked down a pair of shots from the charity stripe, followed by Veronica Venezia's layup to bring the home team within four at 65-61 with 3:41 left. At the 1:52 mark, coming out of a timeout, Morgan Bamberger hit a clutch triple to make it a two-point contest at 69-67. Then, the Cougars missed their ensuing layup, and Bamberger ran the length of the court for the fast-break layup to erase the visitor's 15-point lead and tie the game at 69-69. Then, after a Misericordia turnover, the Dutchmen had a chance to take the lead, but the Cougars forced a tournament and Emma Hayes ran down the court for the easy fast-break layup to put the visitors back on top at 71-69 with 34 ticks left. With 19 seconds left, LVC saw an opportunity to either tie or go ahead, but Misericordia forced another turnover. Hayes made one-of-two free throws, so with four seconds to go, LVC still had a chance to tie it, but Lehr's long chance was wide and the Cougars escaped with the narrow three-point victory.
 
Midway through the opening quarter, the visitors held a narrow 12-8 lead after Japriya Carroll's two free throws made it 12-8. Lehr hit a jumper, followed by Mealey's layup, to even the game at 12-12 with 4:31 left in the first. With 1:45 left, the Cougars went up by six after Tessa Zamolyi's threy, but Bamberger answered with a jumper and Caroline Scarff hit a pair from the charity stripe, as LVC went into the second quarter down by just two at 20-18.
 
The Dutchmen began the second quarter with five consecutive points all by Jen Eck. The senior hit a 3-pointer and stole the ball from Carroll on Misericordia's next position and ran down for the easy bucket to put LVC ahead 23-20 with 9:33 to go in the second. Later, after Bamberger's triple tied the game at 26-26 with 7:01 remaining, the Cougars ended the quarter on an 11-5 run to take a 37-31 lead into halftime.
 
Misericordia controlled the action in the third quarter and went up by as many as 11 at 48-37 with 4:35 left. A key run for the Dutchmen followed, as LVC answered with a 5-0 run, capped by Mealey's layup, to bring the home squad within six at 48-42 with 2:28 to go. The Cougars had another answer, however, as they ended the third on a 7-2 spurt and took a double-digit lead at 55-44 into the fourth quarter where it looked as though they may cruise to victory, but a tenacious Dutchmen team fought their way back and eventually tied it, but came up just short in the final minute of action.
 
Inside the Numbers
 - Mealey paced LVC's offense with 19 points and 12 rebounds for the double-double. She added four steals as well.
 - Eck enjoyed her best offensive game of the season, netting 13 points and added five boards and three steals.
 - Bamberger finished with 13 points, five rebounds, and four helpers.
 - Lehr was also in double digits in points at 11 and she brought down seven boards and notched four steals.
 - Scarff provided seven points off the bench.
 - The Cougars were led by Zamolyi, who scored 19 points and added a game-high 15 rebounds.
 - Carroll (15) and Rachel Carmody (14) were also in double figures in points.
 - Misericordia led in shooting at 43.8-percent to 34.2-percent.
 - The Dutchmen went 16-for-22 from the charity stripe, while the visitors were just 9-for-19.
 - LVC led in bench points at 22-13.
 - The Cougars held the advantage in points off turnovers (20-14) and points in the paint (46-36).
 
Who's Next?
LVC plays one more game in this calendar year when the Dutchmen make the short trip to battle York (Pa.) on Sunday, December 30th at 2 p.m.
 
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