Women's Basketball Clinches Third Place With 86-65 Win at Albright

(box score)

Widener took a seemingly comfortable lead in the first half before having to ward off Albright to clinch third place in the Commonwealth Conference with an 86-65 victory at Albright in Reading, PA.

Widener (17-8, 10-4 CC) looked to have things in control by scoring 16 straight points over five minutes to open a 34-16 lead with 6:31 remaining in the first half. Junior Lil Carney (Narberth, PA) scored five straight points in that run and freshman Kristina Reiter (Sewell, NJ) ended it on two free throws.

The Pride, which led by as many as 40-18, opened a 45-26 halftime cushion by shooting 46 percent (17-of-37) from the floor and holding the Lady Lions to just 36 percent (9-of-25). Junior Kate Dellinger (Wrightsville, PA) and sophomore Jennifer Egee (Ridley Park, PA) netted eight points apiece with Carney and freshman Ally Ferrucci (Vineland, NJ) getting seven each for the Pride, who had nine different scorers in the half.

Albright made things a little interesting in the second half by scoring nine straight points to close to 49-45 with 14:14 remaining. Jessica Venturelli canned a 3-pointer in the spurt and added a free throw.

But Widener scored the next six points to open a 55-45 lead with 12:57 left. Freshman Courtney Colella (Cinnaminson, NJ) scored four points in the run, capping it on a layup.

The Pride later in the half finally put the game out of reach by netting 10 straight points to gain a 70-51 margin with 8:11 to go. Dellinger contributed four points in the burst with Reiter and junior Vanessa Hejnas (Delran, NJ) getting three apiece.

Reiter poured in a season-best 16 points on 5-of-10 shooting with four 3-pointers for the Pride, who shot 41 percent (31-of-76) from the floor. Dellinger had 14 points and six rebounds, Colella and Egee netted 10 points apiece, Carney scored nine and Hejnas had eight, seven rebounds and six steals.

Meghan Boyle had 17 points and 14 rebounds, Jenny Knoebel recorded 15 and 10, Venturelli scored 15 points and Kari Ludi posted 12 and 11 rebounds for Albright (6-19, 2-12 CC), which committed 28 turnovers.

Widener next Wednesday visits second-seeded Messiah in the conference semifinals at 6:00 pm in Grantham, PA. It marks the fifth straight year these schools will lock horns in this round.

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