Photos By Nick Williams, Photography Editor
By Marquis Frias
The rematch certainly did not disappoint.
Only four days after the teams tussled to end the regular season, Drew came back to O.W. Houts Gymnasium on Tuesday for the Landmark Conference quarterfinals with revenge in mind.
The Rangers got it, ending the women’s basketball team’s season with a 76-68 defeat of the River Hawks.
Not only do the Rangers get revenge for Saturday’s loss, when Julia Pinckert nailed a 3-pointer at the buzzer to walk it off, they also pay back SU’s 75-52 defeat of them in last year’s quarterfinals.
The first quarter saw both teams go back-and-forth, which would be the theme for nearly the entirety of the game. SU post Carly George showed her dominance early, putting up 8 points in the first quarter. No team could gain a clear edge; Susquehanna would go down by 7 with five minutes left in the 2nd quarter but were able to fight back and managed to cut the deficit to 35-32 at halftime. The first half saw nine different lead changes. George finished the half with 10 points, along with Zoie Maffei adding on 9 points of her own. For the Rangers, guard Amy Rachilla had 9 points and center Brenna Hezel added 6 points as well.
The 3rd quarter was more of a nail-biter with both teams again going back-and-forth. Rangers guard Alice Altomare would hit a big 3-pointer to give Drew a 51-47 heading into the fourth. The 4th quarter was the difference-maker in this game. Drew would go on a 15-6 run in the first four minutes of the final quarter and would not look back. After a nail-biter all game, Drew managed to extend their lead, which at one point reached as high as 15-points.
Rachilla put up 16 points to lead the Rangers, along with 4 rebounds and 4 assists. Gianna Pica and Maddie Beyer also put up 13 points for Drew. For Susquehanna, George had another double-double performance, dropping 21 points and 11 rebounds. Maffei also tacked on 15 points, along with senior guard Kenzie Selvaggi’s 8 points and 4 rebounds.
“Drew hit some big-time shots down the stretch… they would go up 6 and we would never be able to get close to that,.” SU head Coach Gabby Holko said after the disappointing loss. “When you’re that close with a team, that’s when you have to lockdown defensively. We’ve got to be a little better defensively.”
After the loss of last season’s leading scorer Julia Roth in the first game of the season to an MCL and ACL tear, Susquehanna faced adversity very early in the season but was able to fight through it and earn hosting rights in the Landmark quarters for the second straight year, a feat that previously hadn’t been accomplished since the turn of the millennium.
“No one should hang their head,” Holko said. “Everyone should be proud of the season they had.”
