WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. – Senior Janelle Ziminski (Drums, Pa./Hazleton Area) scored a career-high 15 points and four other Lycoming College women's basketball players finished in double figures to lift the team to a 67-58 win over Hood in Commonwealth Conference action at Lamade Gym on Saturday afternoon, Jan. 31.
 
Ziminski also contributed six steals to go with four rebounds and two assists, becoming the second player in school history to post 100 rebounds, 40 steals, 40 assists and 20 3-pointers in a season in the process.
 
Both junior Olivia Manges (York, Pa./West York) and junior Chelsea Henderson (Yonkers, N.Y./Yonkers) added 12 points, with Manges adding three assists and four rebounds and Henderson posting five rebounds and four steals.  Freshman Shelby Mueller (Collegeville, Pa./Spring-Ford) and sophomore Nicole Calella (Sandyston, N.J./Kittatinny Regional) each posted 10 points and three steals, with Calella also adding four assists.
 
The five players in double figures was a first for the team this season, as the Warriors (13-7 overall, 5-6 Commonwealth) secured their second straight winning season and stayed in a tie for the fifth and final conference playoff slot with Lebanon Valley (13-6 overall, 5-6 Commonwealth) with five games remaining.
 
"I liked our intensity, especially in the beginning," Lycoming head coach Chris Ditzler said. "We also brought some good things defensively and I thought scoring so many points off their turnovers was the difference in the game."
 
The Warriors got out to a fast start in the game, shooting 55 percent through the game's first 13 minutes en route to building a 30-16 lead. The team was hot from outside, with both Ziminski  and Manges each scoring eight points during the run, hitting two 3-pointers each. Hood (4-15 overall, 2-8 Commonwealth) also began the half shooting well, hitting 50 percent of their shots in the first 13 minutes, but turnovers helped the Warriors' build their lead, scoring 15 points off Hood's 16 first-half turnovers.
 
Hood did use a 7-2 run in the final seven minutes of the half to close within nine points at 32-23 at the break.
 
The Warriors kept a three-possession lead throughout the second half, never letting the Blazers within eight points and expanding the lead to as many as 19 at 55-36 with 6:02 remaining after a layup by freshman Ashlee Ruzicka (Quakertown, Pa./Quakertown). The Blazers scored the next eight points to close back within 11 with 4:27 left, but the Warriors responded with four of the next five points and the Blazers couldn't get closer than nine the rest of the way.
 
Ruzicka finished with two points and six rebounds and senior Ali Derr (New Columbia, Pa./Milton Area) posted two points, four rebounds and three assists. Freshman Haley Sipple (Boothwyn, Pa./Chichester) added four points, four rebounds and two blocks, as Lycoming finished 21-of-54 from the field (39 percent) and posted a 29-8 advantage in points off turnover.
 
Verkia Smith led the Blazers with 13 points and six rebounds and Rachel Kessler added 12 points, three steals and two assists. Allie Appleby added nine points and Alexis Andrukat posted eight points. Rachel Willey pulled down 10 rebounds and added three assists.
 
The Warriors get back on the court on Wednesday, Feb. 4, when they head to Widener for a Commonwealth Conference doubleheader. The women will tip at 6 p.m. before the men play at 8 p.m.