SELINSGROVE, PA - Susquehanna women's basketball let it all out on Saturday with a convincing 79-61 victory over Drew to cap their regular season. The River Hawks improved to 21-4 and 14-4 in the Landmark, upping their Landmark season wins record, while boasting the most overall victories since 1991-92 entering the Landmark Conference Tournament.
The win also put Susquehanna in a three-way tie for second place with Catholic and Elizabethtown, who also finished with 14-4 conference records and who the River Hawks each split with in their season series. More information will be provided soon by the Landmark Conference on tiebreaking scenarios to determine the two, three, and four seeds for the Landmark Tournament, which begins on Tuesday, while the one and two seeds will have a first-round bye and host Thursday's Landmark Semifinals game.
How it Happened:
- Prior to the game head coach Gabby Holko and the rest of the Susquehanna women's basketball community celebrated seniors Julia Pinckert, Julia Roth, Carly George and Lauren Klein.
- Julia Pinckert nailed a three-pointer to start the contest, with her second three-pointer coming just second later.
- The River Hawks continued to press the score, pushing the lead all the way to nine points.
- Julia Roth added a lay up to with a little less than five minutes to play in the first quarter.
- Susquehanna maintained a lead throughout the remaining four minutes of play to take the 24-15 lead into the second quarter.
- Drew continued to keep the game close, not allowing the River Hawks to jump out to a substantial lead throughout the second quarter.
- Carly Goerge added four points to the total through the quarter, with Delaney Chilcote netting the final point of the half. Susquehanna led the Rangers, 42-28 heading into the break.
- Coming out of the break, it was all SU. Julia Roth pushed the SU lead to 21 points with a little more than six minutes to play in the third.
- Susquehanna maintained a steady lead throughout the remainder of the quarter, taking a 63-42 lead into the fourth quarter.
- Carly George pushed teh lead to 25 points after netting an easy lay up in the paint with 7:27 to go in regulation.
- Even though Drew's offense started firing late in the game, Susquehanna fended off any kind of comeback and won the game 79-61 to claim the two-seed in the Landmark Conference Playoffs.
Inside the Box Score:
- Julia Pinckert cemented her name in history, with her four assists putting her over the 400 career rebound mark, now with 403. Pinckert finished the contest with 16 points, to go along with her 10 rebounds, netting 4-of-8 from behind the arc.
- Carly George added 20 points to the final box score, while also pulling down nine rebounds. George shot 10-of-17 from the field.
- Julia Roth netted 13 points and pulled down a staggering 13 rebounds.
- Susquehanna shot 40.5% from the field (30-74) in comparison to Drew's 34.9% from the field (22-63).
- Drew shot 11-of-24 from beyond the arc with the River Hawks netting eight three pointers.
Up Next for the River Hawks:
- Susquehanna advances to the Landmark Conference Tournament, where they will await word from the Landmark on seeding and its opponent.
- The tournament begins with the opening round games on Tuesday between the three through six seeds, while the top two seeds will have a first-round bye and host Thursday's Landmark Semifinals.
- In the three-way tie for second place between Susquehanna, Elizabethtown and Catholic, the River Hawks hold the best NCAA NPI ranking of the three at 36th as of Feb. 20. Catholic is 60th as of Saturday night, while Elizabethtown is 63rd.
- Undefeated Scranton (25-0, 18-0 Landmark) holds the number one seed for the Landmark Tournament, while Moravian and Drew will be the fifth and sixth seeds, respectively.
