ANNVILLE, Pa. – Lebanon Valley junior Abbie Reed was one of four scorers in double figures with a career-high 19 points to power the Dutchmen women's basketball team to a huge 63-50 over visiting Stevens Institute of Technology on Wednesday evening at Sorrentino Gymnasium in Annville.
 
The Dutchmen (14-4, 5-2 MAC Freedom) and Ducks (14-4, 5-2 MAC Freedom) played a very close first half with Stevens leading 31-30 at the break. LVC came out of the locker room with a big 18-9 third quarter and cruised in the fourth quarter, pushing the lead to double digits against the defending conference champions.
 
Riley Hevelow scored the first points of the game about a minute in as she knocked down a jumper in the paint off a pass from Adrianna Stricek. The Ducks answered with a pair of buckets to take their first lead of the night. Hevelow scored with a step-back jumper on the right wing to even the score with 6:31 on the clock. Reed and Brielle Reidinger scored their first points of the night to give the Dutchmen an 8-4 advantage. Reed knocked down a pair of free throws, and Reidinger drove the left side for a layup.
 
Stevens locked down on defense and didn't allow another LVC point for the next four minutes of the quarter. Offensively, the Ducks hit a layup and a three-pointer to take a one-point lead. They added a pair of buckets to take their biggest lead of the game at 13-8 with 3:11 left in the quarter. Alexa Holcomb found Stricek open for a baseline jumper before Megan Albrecht and Reidinger each hit a free throw in the final minute of the quarter. The Ducks got an offensive rebound and a putback bucket right before the quarter ended to go up 15-12.
 
LVC started the second quarter strong as Reidinger blocked a shot, Stricek grabbed the rebound, and then Stricek hit a jumper on the left wing off a pass from Albrecht. Hevelow gave the Dutchmen the lead with a baseline pull-up after driving past her defender. The teams traded buckets over the next two minutes as Hevelow answered a Stevens basket with a mid-range jumper in the paint off a short pass from Reidinger. The Ducks countered with a three-pointer that Reed responded to with a left-wing three-pointer.
 
The Ducks made a pair of free throws before Hevelow drove to the rim for two. SIT countered with a layup, and LVC answered right back as Hevelow knocked down a three-pointer from almost the same spot as Reed. Reed pushed the advantage to 28-24 with a driving layup. The Ducks scored the next five points to retake the lead with 1:54 on the clock. Holcomb hit Reed at the top of the key for a bucket and Stevens scored on a layup to go up 31-30 at the half.
 
The Dutchmen came out of the locker room on fire to begin the second half, scoring on the first seven possessions. Reidinger scored underneath the rim to give LVC the lead. Reed stole the ball and found Stricek in transition for a layup. Stevens scored before Reidinger knocked down an elbow jumper. The Ducks scored down low and called a timeout with 7:27 to go.
 
Reidinger found Reed open at the top of the key for her first three-pointer of the quarter. SIT scored another layup before Stricek hit the front end of two free throws and then found Reed for a right-wing three-pointer off an offensive rebound. The run continued as Hevelow hit a step-back three-pointer from nearly the same spot as Reed to put LVC up by nine. Stevens ended the scoreless run with a three-pointer before Holcomb found Stricek open in the corner for a bucket to give the Dutchmen a 48-40 lead after three quarters of play.
 
Stricek gave LVC its first double-digit lead of the game as she opened the fourth with a driving layup. The Ducks answered with a layup at the other end before Hevelow drove to the lane for two on a short pull-up jumper. Reed got to the line with a big drive to the rim that gave Stevens guard Leyla Castro her fourth foul of the game. Reed hit one of two free throws to make it 53-42. Stevens scored in the paint and then called a timeout.
 
Hevelow beat her defender along the baseline and pulled up just outside of the paint for a bucket to keep the advantage at 11. Stevens got out in transition for a score, and the Dutchmen answered right back as Hevleow found Reidinger under the rim for a layup. Reed then hit a dagger three-pointer on the left wing off a pass from Hevelow with 3:17 to play that put the Dutchmen up by 14. Albrecht made a free throw, and then Reidinger hit double figures with a layup that pushed the lead to a game-high 17 points. Stevens scored twice in the final minute to set the final score.
 
Inside the Box

• Reed scored a career-high 19 points with four three-pointers. The junior added to her career game with seven rebounds, three steals, and two blocks.
• Hevelow poured in a game-high 20 points. She has scored at least 20 points in six games this season. The senior also had three rebounds and two assists.
• Stricek made the most of her first start for the Dutchmen with a season-high 11 points and a season-high eight rebounds. She was 5-for-7 from the field and dished out two assists. She was a team-high +21 in 33 minutes of action on the floor.
• Reidinger added 11 points and six rebounds with two assists, one block, and one steal. The senior now has 999 career points and 882 career rebounds.
• Holcomb had a strong game, grabbing nine rebounds, including three on the offensive glass. The guard also dished out a game-high six assists.
• LVC shot a season-best 50 percent from the floor, making 25 of 50 field goals. They made six of nine three-point attempts and were 7-for-14 at the free-throw line.
• The Dutchmen had a 41-29 rebounding advantage and scored 10 second-chance points off eight offensive rebounds.
• There were 16 lead changes in the game, but only one in the second half as the Dutchmen led for all but the first 50 seconds of the half.
• LVC snapped a three-game losing skid against the Ducks and beat Stevens for the first time in Sorrentino Gymnasium in three meetings.
• LVC ends the first half of conference play in a three-way tie for second place with Stevens and Arcadia at 5-2. DeSales is first at 6-1.

Up Next
The Dutchmen will head up I-81 on Saturday to face Misericordia University to begin the second round of conference games. Tip-off in Dallas is scheduled for 1 p.m. at the Anderson Center.

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