ANNVILLE, Pa. – The Lebanon Valley Women's Basketball team won its fourth consecutive game by double digits on Wednesday evening with a 74-50 victory over visiting FDU-Florham at Sorrentino Gymnasium.
 
The Dutchmen (11-5, 4-1 MAC Freedom) never trailed against the Devils (5-11, 2-3 MAC Freedom) to stay atop the conference standings. After a couple of missed buckets on the first possessions of the game, Kailey Eckhart found Brielle Reidinger down the court for an easy bucket. Reidinger then grabbed a defensive rebound and added two more points down low as Jordan Zimmerman found her underneath the basket. The Devils got on the scoreboard with a bucket and Abbie Reed assisted on an Eckhart basket to push the advantage back to four. FDU-Florham got back within two on a bucket with seven minute to go before Zimmerman scored on back-to-back possessions to make it 10-4 midway through the quarter. The junior continued her scoring spree with a three to put the Dutchmen up by seven. The lead was still seven when Reidinger hit a jumper with 2:31 left off a pass from Cristina Fernandez. The Devils hit a free throw to cut the lead to eight before Fernandez knocked down a jumper from the left wing in the final minute. FDU-Florham beat the buzzer to cut the deficit to 19-11 after the first 10 minutes.
 
Neither team was able to score for the first two minutes of the second quarter until Reidinger sent a short pass in the paint to Zimmerman who knocked down the jumper. The Devils responded with a bucket at the other end which was answered by an Eckhart jumper. The Devils scored the next four points to get within six points at 23-17 before a pair of layups from Reidinger and Eckhart pushed LVC's lead back to 10. The teams traded three-pointers and after forcing a turnover, Eckhart knocked down a three to put the lead to 35-22 with a little over four minutes to play in the quarter. The Devils countered with a 5-0 run which was answered by four points from Eckhart. The Dutchmen were able to maintain the 13-point lead into halftime as they headed to the locker room with a 44-31 advantage.
 
The Dutchmen came out strong to begin the second half as Eckhart, Reed and Reidinger scored in the paint on the first three offensive possession to increase the lead to 19. The teams traded scores and then the Devils used an 8-0 run over a span of three minutes to cut the advantage down to 11 at 52-41. Reed stopped the run with a pair of made free throws. FDU scored to get back within 11 forcing the Dutchmen to call a timeout with just under three minutes to go in the quarter. Rachel Witkoski knocked down a three from the right wing out of the timeout and then the Devils scored at the other end with the final points of the quarter to cut the deficit to 57-45.
 
Zimmerman grabbed a defensive rebound on the first play of the fourth and then knocked down a three to push the lead to 15. The Devils scored their first of just two made field goals in the final quarter as the Dutchmen defense locked down the Devils over the final 10 minutes. Reidinger and Zimmerman scored buckets to put the Dutchmen up 64-47 with seven minutes remaining. After FDU-Florham made one of two free throw attempts, the Dutchmen used a 6-0 run to extend the lead to 22. Fernandez found Elise Balmer cutting to the rim for a pair of layups and then Witkoski hit a jumper from the top of the key with just under two to play. The Devils made a jumper and LVC ended the game with a layup by Eckhart and a short jumper by Alexa Holcomb to set the final score.
 
Inside the Box

• Reidinger recorded her seventh double-double of the year with a season-high 21 points and 19 rebounds. The junior had her double-double by halftime with 15 points and 10 rebounds in the first 20 minutes. The forward was 10-16 from the field, dished out four assists, and blocked two shots.
• Eckhart was just shy of her season-high with 19 points and seven rebounds. The junior has scored in double digits in all five conference games.
• Zimmerman poured in 14 points and grabbed four rebounds. The guard also blocked two shots. Zimmerman equaled her career-high on 6-12 shooting with two made threes.
• Fernandez dished out eight assists to aid the offense. The senior also had two points, three steals, two blocks, and two rebounds.
• Reed added seven points and four rebounds with three assists. Witkoski scored five points in six minutes while Balmer had six rebounds and four points.
• The 74 points are the second-most LVC has scored in a game this season and the most at Sorrentino Gymnasium.
• LVC shot 44.4 percent from the field and scored 38 points in the paint. The Dutchmen had 18 second chance points and 17 points off 12 FDU turnovers.
• The Dutchmen took excellent care of the ball with a season-low six turnovers.

Up Next
LVC will head to Glenside on Saturday for a first-place battle with Arcadia University. Tip off inside Alumni Gymnasium is scheduled for 2 p.m. in a rematch of last year's MAC Freedom Semifinal matchup.

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