Box Score

READING, Pa. – Senior Julia Antonelli (Hanover, Pa./New Oxford) scored all 14 of her points in the final 11:08, starting a rally and then helping the Lycoming College women's basketball team hold off Albright College for a hard-fought 45-43 Commonwealth Conference win at the Bollman Center on Tuesday night, Feb. 18, to clinch a playoff berth for the second straight year.
 
The Warriors (12-11 overall, 9-8 Commonwealth) earned the berth due to Messiah's 68-54 win over Widener, who entered the game tied with the Warriors for the fifth playoff slot, and Elizabethtown's 72-66 win over Stevenson, which ensured the Mustangs a fourth-place finish in the Commonwealth. The Warriors, even with a loss and a Widener win in the season finales on Saturday, Feb. 22, hold the tiebreaker with the Pride thanks to the second tiebreaking criteria - a win over Lebanon Valley, one of three teams tied for the league lead. The Pride did not beat any of the league's top three teams.
 
The Warriors will head to Stevenson on Monday night, Feb. 24, looking to break a series split earned during the regular season, as Lycoming earned its second straight playoff berth, the first time the team made back-to-back playoff appearances since 1997-98.
 
Both teams kept the game tight in the second half, with neither team gaining more than a 3-point lead until Antonelli began to get hot for the Warriors with 11:08 left, as she hit a pair of free throws to start a seven-point run in which she scored all the points to give Lycoming a 36-31 lead with 9:37 left.
 
The Lions hit a layup to make it a 3-point game but as the game turned down the stretch with 7:33 left, and sophomore Chelsea Henderson (Yonkers, N.Y./Yonkers) hit a jumper with 6:40 remaining and Antonelli hit another layup with 5:00 left to make it a 3-posession game at 40-33.
 
A pair more free throws from Antonelli made it a nine-point game before Albright rallied, as they got a traditional 3-point play from Kristi McFadden and Jessica Venturelli hit a 3-pointer to make it 42-39 with 2:35 left. Antonelli stopped the run with a step-in jumper before Meghan Boyle brought it back to a one-possession game with a jumper seconds later.
 
With 48.9 seconds left, an offensive foul gave the ball back to Albright and Boyle hit a layup with 31 seconds left to make it, 44-43. Antonelli went to the line with 15.4 seconds left and hit the front end of a pair of free throws to make it a two-point game, setting up Albright's final possession, where a last-second 3-pointer dropped off the rim.
 
In a first half with two lead changes and five ties, it was only fitting that the Warriors and Lions headed into the break tied at 21. In the low-scoring half, both teams were held to less than 30 percent from the field and both were held without a bucket for long periods of time.
 
Lycoming scored the first four points before Albright got on the board and Albright responded with five straight points to take a 5-4 lead with 16:10 left. The Warriors responded with a 13-4 run, led by six points from junior Ali Derr (New Columbia, Pa./Milton Area), to take a 17-9 lead with 10:15 left.
 
The Lions held the Warriors scoreless for the next six minutes, though, enough time to tie it at 17. Both teams traded four points from there to the end of the half.
 
Antonelli led the Warriors with 14 points, nine rebounds and two steals and Derr added 12 points and five rebounds. Freshman Nicole Calella (Sandyston, Pa./Kittatinny Regional) added eight points and junior Janelle Ziminski (Drums, Pa./Hazleton Area) added five points and four rebounds. Lycoming scored just 12 points in the paint, but thrived off turnovers, scoring 16 points.
 
Boyle led the Lions with 13 points and eight rebounds and Venturelli added nine points and seven assists. Kelecia Harris posted eight points and 10 rebounds and McFadden also notched three points, eight rebounds and two blocks.
 
The Warriors get back on the court with the regular-season finale on Saturday, Feb. 22, when they host Hood at 1 p.m. in a Commonwealth Conference game at Dutch Burch Court at Lamade Gym. Before the game, seniors Antonelli, Victoria Kowalski (Mahopec, N.Y./Lakeland) and Jenna Morgan (Tyrone, Pa./Juniata Valley) will be honored in a short ceremony for their contributions to the program.