Box Score
ANNVILLE, Pa. - Lebanon Valley College was making most of its shots in the first half against Richard Stockton on Thursday night, shooting 53 percent from the field in the opening 20 minutes. The Ospreys, on the other hand, hit just 8-of-38 shots (21%) in the first half. For the Flying Dutchmen, the 33-17 advantage at the break was just the beginning as LVC staved off a second-half comeback attempt for a 68-55 win.
With the win, LVC improves to 8-0 on the season. Richard Stockton falls to 5-2.
Eryn Schultz led all scorers with 18 points - 13 of which came in the second half. Andrea Hoover tied a career high with 10 assists. Suzie Noyes (14 points) and Liz Liz Borgia (11 points) also had big nights offensively for LVC.
For Richard Stockton, Julia Fagan (12 points) and Aspen Price-Perry (11 points) led the way on a tough shooting night for the Ospreys. As a squad, RSC shot 33% on 25-of-77 shooting. The majority of those misses were from three-point range, where Richard Stockton was only 3-for-22 (including an 0-for-11 first half.)
LVC took advantage of Richard Stockton's ineffectiveness in the first half, storming out to a 17-5 lead. LVC amped up its defense, holding Stockton without a field goal for 8:18 of game time. During that stretch, the Flying Dutchmen pushed its then 6-4 lead to 17-7. Schultz scored five or her 18 points over that span, including a big three-pointer off a Hoover dish. Over that span, the Ospreys missed 12 field goals and only came through with one of three free throws. LVC forced three turnovers by RSC in that period as well.
In the second half, Richard Stockton was a bit better from the field, hitting 4-of-9 field goals to close the gap to 12. The Ospreys finally made a three-pointer at the 14:16 mark when Aliyah Nelson drained one. However, LVC responded 24 seconds later with a three-ball of its own from Schultz to bring the lead back up to 16 at 44-28.
Richard Stockton looked to climb back in the game again with under seven minutes to play after LaTonya Oliver scored on a put-back after she picked up an offensive rebound and then collected a defensive board at the other end to set up another scoring chance. However, LVC again came up with a defensive stop, forcing Price-Perry into a turnover. Hoover made the Ospreys pay, with a pretty pass to a driving Borgia for a layup at 6:43.
Schultz iced the game with 1:13 to play when she nailed her third trifecta of the game. A 7-2 run by RSC had closed the game to within 12 again at 1-49, but LVC hit for three of its 16 points off a turnover when Schultz popped behind the three-point line and hit the trey that gave Hoover her 10th assist.
Schultz, a junior, has now made 139 three-pointers in her career - the third most in school history. She is six away from tying Lora Zimmerman for second and 27 away from Serenity Roos' program-record 166.
With its 8-0 start to the 2009-10 season, LVC extended the second-best run to start a campaign by a Flying Dutchmen team. Eight wins in a row ties the 1997-98 and 2002-03 teams for the fourth-best win streak at any time during a season.
The Flying Dutchmen return to the court Jan. 2 against Endicott at CCNY's New Year's Tournament at 5 p.m.
