CHESTER, Pa. (Dec. 3, 2016) – The Widener women's basketball team fell to Stevenson by an 87-78 score on Saturday afternoon at the Schwartz Center.
 
The teams played a tight contest with seven ties and nine lead changes through three quarters of action before the Mustangs used a late surge to pull away. Stevenson led by just a slim 62-59 margin after 30 minutes, but Sara Tarbert came through with a pair of 3-pointers at the 4:55 and 3:37 marks to give the visitors a 76-67 advantage and break the game open. The reigning conference player of the year then added six more points down the stretch to put the contest out of reach.
 
Widener jumped out to a 9-2 lead when freshman Devan Rimmer (Perksasie, Pa.) converted a 3-point field goal, but Stevenson came back and went ahead by a 16-15 score when Tarbert drove in for a layup with 2:54 on the clock. The senior scored the first 16 points for the Mustangs before freshman Angelica Borja (Somerville, N.J.) would hit a trifecta to tie the game at 22s through the first quarter of play.
 
Junior Julia Venturelli (Bridgewater, N.J.) provided a spark off the bench for Widener and nailed one of her six 3-pointers to open the scoring in the second. The guard scored 10 points on four field goals in the quarter, as the Pride led for practically the entire frame and would take a 43-38 advantage into the break.
 
The third quarter, however, was a seesaw battle with the teams exchanging the lead five times. Widener continued to dial in from downtown and got long range baskets from freshman Madison Ireland (Garnet Valley, Pa.), junior Nikki Petri (Congers, N.Y.) and Venturelli. But despite the stellar shooting, Stevenson got a key 3-pointer from Kaitlyn VanTash off a feed from Tarbert, and the Mustangs never trailed the rest of the way.
 
Tarbert exploded for a career-high 49 points for Stevenson (4-2, MAC Commonwealth 1-1) by shooting 21-of-30 from the field, including 2-of-4 from long range, and 5-of-7 at the line. She also corralled 16 rebounds and added five steals, which were both game highs, and dished out three assists. Jonaye Curry scored 12 points.
 
Widener (2-4, MAC Commonwealth 0-2) was led by Venturelli, who matched a career high with 22 points. She also canned six of her eight shot attempts from long distance. Ireland finished with 15 points to go along with seven rebounds, six assists and two swipes.
 
The Pride will continue conference play when they visit nationally-ranked Albright on Wednesday, Dec. 7 at 6 p.m.