Photo By Michael Lipscomb
By Thamoda Haputhanthri
The No.2 seed River Hawks’s season came to an end after a 68-61 loss to No.3 Elizabethtown in the second round of the Landmark Conference Playoffs Thursday Night.
Susquehanna and Elizabethtown split their regular season series, and both put up 14-4 conference records going into the semifinal matchup.
Unfortunately for Susquehanna, the tight battle would see the Blue Jays walk away with the win to face Scranton in the Landmark Conference Finals this Saturday.
Julia Pinckert would start the game with a layup on a fast break, giving the River Hawks an early four-point lead. Elizabethtown would hit back though, tying the game back up at 6-6. By the end of the first quarter, Elizabethtown would lead the affair 19-18, much to the dismay of the home crowd.
The second quarter continued with the pace set in the first quarter, with the two teams throwing even blows throughout the entire quarter. Blue Jays senior guard Makenna Mummert would open the scoring in the second with a three pointer, which was followed by a Carly George layup in the paint for SU.
Late free throws from Mummert would re-establish Elizabethtown’s lead. As the whistle blew to mark the halftime break, Elizabethtown kept the lead 36-34.
Mummert was the game’s leading scorer in the first two quarters, finishing with 14 points in the first half. Meanwhile for Susquehanna, senior forward Julia Roth led the way with nine points, followed by junior forward Zoie Maffei’s seven points off the bench.
The third quarter would see the River Hawks jump back into the lead after Julia Pinckert tied the game with a layup followed by two free throws converted by Carly George.
The third frame would see the River Hawks and the Blue Jays in another close bout, with both teams scoring only 25 total points. Elizabethtown would sneak a three point lead to make the score 49-46 entering the final quarter.
The fourth quarter would define the night, with the Blue Jays gaining a seven-point advantage early in the fourth quarter, thanks to senior forward Allyia Kennedy and senior guard Ella Gordon.
That cushion benefited the Blue Jays throughout the fourth quarter, as the home crowd could only watch in dismay as the River Hawks failed to overturn the score. As the final whistle blew, Susquehanna’s historic season would come to an end in the semifinal round of the Landmark Conference Playoffs.
Maffei led the River Hawks in scoring 14 points off the bench, followed by Pinckert’s 13 points and Roth’s 11 points and 11 rebounds. Mummert was the game’s leading scorer as she finished with 20 points, including reaching 1,000 career points early in the third quarter.
Susquehanna ended the night with a 35.4% field goal percentage, slightly less to the Blue Jays’s 38.3% on the night.
The deciding factor would be down to points from deep, with Elizabethtown making 10 three pointers compared to Susquehanna’s four. In what was a close affair, the lead would change hands 14 times with the scores tied between the two Landmark heavyweights 9 times.
Susquehanna’s hopes of making the NCAA DIII tournament look all but dashed, after a loss in the semifinal dropped their chances of making the postseason tournament by 93%. Coach Holko remains hopeful stating, “I hope that the committee sees the body of work we put into this season.”
As the curtain draws on the season, the questions of what could be starts to linger through the minds of River Hawk fans, but it’s important to take a look at what has been a tremendously successful season for Susquehanna.
The River Hawks finished 21-5 on the season overall, with highlight wins against the likes of Gettysburg College and Goucher. They would put up 1886 points as opposed to the 1478 points their opponents would put up, averaging a points per game of 72.5, and a points per game margin of 15.7.
The senior class of George, Pinckert and Roth and an outstanding supporting cast can walk out of O.W. Houts Gymnasium with their heads held high, knowing the tremendous effort they put up all season long.