Women's Basketball Drew Athletic Communications

Drew Women’s Basketball Earns First-Ever Landmark Conference Playoff Win

SELINSGROVE, Pa. – The Drew University women's basketball team made history on Tuesday, earning its first-ever Landmark Conference playoff victory with a 76-68 win at fourth-seeded Susquehanna University.

With the victory, the fifth-seeded Rangers (15-11) move on to the tournament semifinals and will visit top-seeded and No. 4-ranked University of Scranton on Thursday at 7 p.m.

Though it was a nip-and-tuck affair, Drew trailed just once over the final three quarters – when Susquehanna led 37-35 less than a minute into the second half. The Rangers broke the game open with a 13-1 run early in the fourth quarter.

Sophomore guard Amy Rachilla led the Rangers with 16 points and four assists while shooting 8-for-11 at the foul line. Junior forward Gianna Pica added 13 points, five rebounds, and three steals while junior guard Maddie Beyer contributed 13 points, and junior center Brenna Hezel posted nine points and a pair of blocked shots. Sophomore guard Miabella Diaz contributed nine points and seven rebounds.

Carly George paced the River Hawks (15-11) with 21 points and 11 rebounds. Neither side led by more than three in an extremely tight opening quarter. Fifth-year center Gracie Hezel dropped in a layup with 1:56 on the clock to make it 14-14, and after a Susquehanna basket, sophomore guard Alice Altomare drained a 3-pointer with 21  seconds left to give Drew a 17-16 lead after one quarter of play.

Altomare's triple was the start of a 9-0 Ranger run, which was capped by a jumper from Brenna Hezel that made it 23-16 with 8:08 on the clock. The River Hawks rallied, however, and eventually tied it (32-32) with 1:14 left in the half. But freshman guard Jocelyn Kingsley hit a pair of free throws with 1:14 remaining before Beyer split a trip to the line with 45 seconds on the clock to give Drew a 35-32 lead at the break.

Susquehanna took its 37-35 lead on a layup from Pinckert with 9:15 left in the third quarter. But Drew would not trail again after Pica scored the next five points.

The Rangers nudged their lead to six (45-39) on a 3-pointer from Diaz with 5:15 on the clock before the River Hawks twice cut it to one, the last coming on a triple from Pinckert with 3:11 to go in the quarter. But Altomare answered with a three of her own with 2:48 left in the period, and it turned out to be the final points of the stanza as Susquehanna carried a 51-47 lead into the final quarter.

Drew led just 56-53 with 7:58 left but broke it open with its decisive run, and Susquehanna was unable to get closer than seven the rest of the way. Diaz started the run with a layup before Brenna Hezel spilt a trip to the foul line.

Rachilla went 2-for-2 at the stripe before Pica came up with a steal and went coast-to-coast for a layup, making it 63-53 with 6:04 remaining.

Beyer followed up with a 3-ball before another Pica steal led to her layup at the other end of the court. Rachilla capped the run by going 1-for-2 at the line with 2:34 remaining, making it 69-54.

Drew iced its win at the foul line, hitting 7-of-10 free throws over 48 seconds to build a 10-point lead (76-66) with 32 ticks showing. Rachilla went 4-for-6 at the line during the stretch while Brenna Hezel was 2-for-2.