CHESTER, Pa. – Women's basketball fought down to the wire against the Lebanon Valley Dutchmen but fell short on a last second buzzer beater.
 
Following the 61-59 loss, the Pride move to 5-10 in regular season play and fall to 2-4 in MAC Commonwealth contests.
 
BY THE NUMBERS

• Mia Robbins paced the Pride with 22 points
• First year Avalynn Baer earned a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds.
• Defensively, the team saw three blocks and steals.

HOW IT HAPPENED IN THE SCHWARTZ ATHLETIC CENTER

Widener's Mia Robbins sunk six to let the Pride jump to a quick 6-2 lead. With 5:46 remaining in the first, Lindsay Kutz extended the lead after a driving layup and a Samuels assist. The Dutchmen answered right back with a hook shot by Daelyn Stabler to cut the lead to three. With under a minute left, Mary McFillen saw her first points of the game off a three pointer from the bench side to extend the Pride's lead to double digits. In the first, the team shot 7 of 14 (50%) from the floor, 2 of 3 (66.7%) from the arc, and 1 of 2 (50%) from the line. Going into the second, the ladies held a 17-9 lead.
 
Jordan D'Ambrosio opened the second quarter with a jump shot to push the lead back to double digits. Robbins followed up on a layup and earned a three-point play off a Jordan Zimmerman foul to push the lead to 22-9. After nearly two minutes of a scoring drought, Widener's Samuels picked up a rebound and turned it into three points with 5:35 on the board. With exactly one-minute remaining, Dutchmen Kate Fitzpatrick hit a three to cut the Pride lead to five. The Pride went into halftime with a 29-24 lead. The team shot 5 of 16 (32.3%) from the floor, went perfect from the line off the "and 1", and added three points off a three-point shot from Samuels.
 
Coming out of halftime, Fitzpatrick of the Dutchmen opened the scoring gates with a jumper to cut the lead from five to three. Samuels quickly answered and pushed the lead back to six with 8:43 on the board. After a 6-0 Pride run, the Dutchmen take their first timeout of the half with 6:41 remaining. At 3:11, Fitzpatrick struck again with a three pointer to cut the Pride lead back to five. The Pride went on to score 19 points to the Dutchmen 15 to go into the fourth with a 48-39 lead. The third quarter showed the team shooting 7 of 15 (46.7%) in field goals and a perfect 1 of 1 and 4 of 4 from the arc and the line.
 
With a 48-39 lead to start the fourth, the ladies tried to seal the deal. After a 4-0 Dutchmen run, Baer hit a layup from D'Ambrosio to push the lead to seven. In the next three minutes, the Blue and Gold struggled to find the rhythm they had in the prior 45 minutes and fell two points lead with just under five minutes. During the Pride drought, Stabler put up nine points to eventually take over the lead with 3:00 on the board. The last two minutes got people on the edge of their seat as the Dutchmen extended the lead to four. The Pride weren't done fighting and tied the game at 59 on a pair of free throws from Samuels and D'Ambrosio. With overtime in sight, the Pride looked to hold the Dutchmen with 11 seconds. As time expired Fitzpatrick hit a buzzer beater jumper to send the Dutchmen home with a 61-59 victory. Over the game, the Blue and Gold shot 20 of 57 (35.1%) in field goal attempts, 4 of 11 (36.4%) from beyond the arc, and 15 of 17 (88.2%) from the free throw line. The ladies also saw 30 points in the paint, eight off Dutchmen turnovers, and 11 off second chances.
 
UP NEXT
Widener hits the road for another MAC Commonwealth matchup against the 4-11 (1-5 MAC Commonwealth) York Spartans in the first of the doubleheader games. Tip-off is set for 1 p.m.