WILKES-BARRE, Pa. – The Lebanon Valley Women's Basketball team raced out to a 9-2 lead in the first four minutes of a 62-40 victory over King's College on Wednesday evening at McGrane Gymnasium in Wilkes-Barre. The victory allowed the Dutchmen to stay atop the conference standings after the first rotation of conference games.
 
LVC (13-5, 6-1 MAC Freedom) got on the board first against the Monarchs (6-12, 2-5 MAC Freedom) as Jordan Zimmerman scored in transition off a pass from Cristina Fernandez. The Monarchs tied it up at the other end of the floor before the Dutchmen went on a 7-0 run. Zimmerman knocked down another jumper, Kailey Eckhart scored in the paint, and Fernandez scored the next three points to put LVC up 9-2. The teams traded scores over the next two minutes with the Dutchmen getting layups from Elise Balmer and Brielle Reidinger. King's used a 7-0 run over a span of two minutes to cut the Dutchmen lead to 14-13 before Fernandez beat the buzzer with a bucket.
 
Reidinger and Zimmerman started the second quarter off with a pair of buckets on LVC's first two offensive possessions to push the advantage back up to seven. After a jumper by the Monarchs, Fernandez knocked down a three and then Zimmerman scored off a pass from Reidinger following a steal by Abbie Reed forcing the Monarchs to call a timeout. LVC came out of the timeout and held King's scoreless over a span of five minutes but were only able to score five points themselves during that time span. Fernandez capped off the run with a steal and bucket. King's recorded just the second made field goal of the quarter with 1:49 on the clock. Eckhart scored at the other end on a layup and the Dutchmen ended the half with a Reidinger bucket in the paint to take a 34-18 advantage into halftime.
 
Eckhart began the third quarter with a three pointer from the top of the key. After a Monarch score, the junior found Zimmerman cutting to the rim for a layup. A minute later, Zimmerman knocked down a three to put the Dutchmen up by 22. The Monarchs responded with a layup and a three pointer to make it 42-25 with 6:46 left in the quarter. Both teams locked in defensively for the next four minutes as neither team was able to score until Balmer put back an offensive rebound with just under three to play. King's finally stopped their scoring drought with 1:26 on the clock with a pair of free throws. A layup cut the score deficit to 15 in the final minute, but Zimmerman responded with a jumper in the paint off a pass from Abbie Reed to give LVC a 46-29 advantage heading into the final quarter.
 
The Monarchs began the fourth with the ball and scored on the first possession. LVC answered with a Reed bucket at the other end of the floor. A little over a minute later, Fernandez found Eckhart down low for a basket to extend the lead to 19. The dutchmen held the Monarchs without a made field goal for a five-minute stretch but King's did make four of six free throw attempts to make it 52-34 with just under five minutes remaining. The King's knocked down a three to cap a 6-0 run that cut the advantage to 14 points before Zimmerman scored off a feed from Fernandez. The Dutchmen were able to get the lead back up to 20 on a Eckhart three and Reidinger layup with 2:29 on the clock. The lead was still 20 in the final minute when Hailie Edwards knocked down a jumper to set the final score at 62-40.
 
Inside the Box

• LVC won by double digits for the sixth consecutive game to stay atop the conference standings. Five of the six wins have been by at least 22 points.
• Zimmerman had a career-high 17 points to lead all scorers in the game. The senior was 8-11 from the field and knocked down a three. She also grabbed seven rebounds and dished out three assists.
• Fernandez flirted with a triple-double scoring 12 points, pulling down seven rebounds, and dishing out seven assists. The senior had three offensive rebounds and blocked two shots.
• Eckhart had 14 points and five rebounds with two assists. She has scored in double figures in all seven conference games.
• Reidinger recorded her fourth consecutive double-double with 10 points and a game-high 15 rebounds. The forward had six offensive rebounds and dished out two assists.
• Balmer added four points and three rebounds while Reed had two points and three rebounds.
• The Dutchmen had another strong defensive performance as King's made just 14 field goals and shot 25 percent from the field.
• LVC had a 50-36 rebounding advantage and scored 11 second chance points off 14 offensive rebounds.
• The Dutchmen did a great job distributing the ball with 21 assists on 27 made field goals.

Up Next
Lebanon Valley will look to avenge the only conference defeat of the year on Saturday when they head to Hoboken, N.J. to face Stevens Institute of Technology to begin the second rotation. Tip-off at Canavan Arena is scheduled for 3 p.m. against the Ducks. The Dutchmen are currently first in the conference standings, one game ahead of Arcadia and Stevens who finished the first half at 5-2.

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