WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. – The Arcadia University women's basketball team picked up its first conference win Saturday afternoon with a stunning 65-63 come-from-behind win over Lycoming. The win is the first road win against the Warriors in program history. The Knights were led by its senior post players,
Addy Crenny and
Valerie DiMuro. Crenny picked up her sixth double-double of the season with a game-high 21 points and a game-best 18 rebounds. With 20 points and 13 rebounds, DiMuro notched her fourth double-double of the year.
The Knights got off to a fast start led by DiMuro and
Imani Alston, as the latter handed out a pair of assists to DiMuro in the game's first minute and a half. Lycoming scored the next five points in quick succession to claim its first lead of the contest at 5-4 with 7:41 remaining in the opening frame. The teams exchanged points over the next four plus minutes with the scoreboard showing a 12-10 advantage for the Knights with 3:09 left before the Warriors put together a 9-0 run to take a 19-12 lead with 1:40 to go in the quarter. Lycoming led 22-16 after one.
The early portion of the second quarter was more of the seesaw action seen in the early stages of the opening frame, before Lycoming went on an 8-0 run in the middle of the frame to take a 34-21 lead with 3:54 remaining in the half.
Dominique Hassinger hit a three with 2:44 to go, however the Knights would trail 39-26 heading into the break.
The Knights shot 33.3% in the first half led by DiMuro with eight points of 3 of 4 shooting.
Addy Crenny led all rebounders with seven. Lycoming shot 42.9% from the field in the half, led by Chelsea Henderson with 14 on 6 of 10 shooting.
The Scarlet and Grey came out hot in the second half. Crenny dropped the first five points of the stanza, including a three-pointer, before
Olivia Roseman capped the 7-0 run with a layup to pull the Knights within six less than a minute and a half in. The Warriors scored back-to-back baskets before the Knights went on a 16-2 run that spanned just under five minutes. DiMuro sparked the run with a pair of layups Alston gave the Knights their first lead of the second half with a jumper with 3:17 to go in the third quarter, DiMuro expanded the lead to four with a layup thirty seconds later. Lycoming responded with a quarter-ending 9-0 run to take a 54-49 lead to the fourth quarter.
Arcadia showed it resilience to start the final quarter scoring the first eight points of the frame all in the paint. Crenny put the Knights ahead 55-54 with a layup with 8:14 to go, though Lycoming would tie the game twice, the Scarlet and Grey would never trail down the stretch. Neither team scored more than three straight points in the final 7:32. DiMuro scored the Knights final points on a jumper with 1:54 to go to put the Knights up 65-62. Roseman solidified the win when she collected an offensive rebound off her own free throw with three seconds left as the only Knight on in the offensive end compared to four for the Warriors.
The Knights shot exactly 50% over the final 20 minutes led by Crenny and DiMuro with 7 of 10, and 6 of 10 performances, respectively. The pair led the Knights 42.2% shooting effort for the game.
Alston played one her best games of the young season while scoring five points, collecting seven boards and dishing out four assists. Hassinger deposited nine points while dishing out a team-high five assists.
"I'm extremely proud of the way our team came together and rallied today" said head coach
Rose Katz. "It took every last player, coach to put in the time and preparation to execute the game plan. It was a gritty effort on the road and I'm super proud of the way we stay together and battled through adversity to get our first conference win."
The Knights take some time off before traveling to the San Juan shootout to take on Western New England on December 28.
