SELINSGROVE, PA - Susquehanna women's basketball's efforts fell short against Drew Tuesday in the Quarterfinals of the Landmark Tournament by a 76-68 score. While both sides pitted an amazing fight that matched their regular season finale on Saturday that the River Hawks won 55-52 on a buzzer beater, it would be the Rangers that prevailed thanks to a high-scoring fourth-quarter to help pull away with the win. Fifth-seed Drew moves on to Thursday's semifinals, playing top-seeded Scranton.
Carly George led the River Hawks in the contest, scoring 21 points with one 3-pointer and claiming 11 rebounds. Zoie Maffei scored 15 in the matchup, while Julia Pinkert and Kenzie Selvaggi each dropped eight. Maffei shot 4-of-9 from the field, making 7-of-8 free throws as the River Hawks made 17-of-20 from the line on the night to Drew's 21-of-32 in a foul-heavy contest. Pinckert shot 3-of-7 with one 3-pointer and Selvaggi netting 3-of-9 with one made three. Overall the River Hawks shot 37.1 percent for the game on 23-of-62 shooting with 5-of-20 threes, compared to the Rangers' 23-of-53 and 9-of-20 from behind the arc.
The first quarter consisted of the two teams trading blows as Carly George scored the first points of the game for the home team. The Rangers would not go away though throughout the entire quarter, as neither team could jump out to more than a 3 point lead. Drew would hold the slight advantage over Susquehanna after the first, 16-17.
Trailing by seven early in the second quarter, Maffei's layup helped kick start the River Hawks offense as they pulled within two points late in the quarter. Susquehanna knotted the game up at 32 a piece, following a Klein three-pointer with 1:14 left in the half. Drew would finish out the half clinging to a slim 35-32 lead.
Both teams came out of the break hot, as they began trading buckets once again. Neither team could take a commanding lead throughout the entire quarter, with Drew's biggest lead jumping out to a mere four points. Susquehanna would keep on fighting to finish out the third frame trailing, 47-51.
The first half of the final frame would look identical to the rest of the game, as both teams would trade blows over and over again. With 6:04 left in the game, Drew jumped out to a ten-point lead and never looked back. Susquehanna would not go quietly though, as the team overcame a 15-point deficit in the quarter to bring the lead down to eight before time expired.
Under head coach Gabby Holko, Susquehanna accomplished a lot this year, winning a school-record 12 Landmark contests for the second straight year despite the loss of Julia Roth the first game of the season. With many standouts, the team banded together, winning all their games against unranked conference competition and settling into the fourth seed in a crowded tournament field that included nationally-ranked Scranton, Catholic and Elizabethtown. For seniors Selvaggi, Bri Dorsey, and Grace Meehan, each can take credit for the drastic uptick in the program's fortunes, including Selvaggi drilling 116 career 3-pointers, good for fourth all-time.
