Hardwick Achieves Career Milestone in NCAA Tournament Game
Newburgh, NY - Albright's first-ever trip to the NCAA Tournament came to an end Friday night with a 75-62 loss to Mount St. Mary. The loss brings an end to the most successful women's basketball season in school history; the Lady Lions won a school-record 20 games in addition to their first NCAA tournament appearance. Senior Jackie Hardwick led all scorers in the game with 23 points, in the process surpassing the 1,000 point plateau for her career. Hardwick becomes the 10th women's basketball player in school history to score 1,000 points in a career.
Albright took its first lead of the game when Hardwick scored in the paint to make the score 10-8 just over four minutes into the contest. Mount St. Mary responded with a 12-2 run, taking a 20-12 lead with 10:25 remaining in the half. Hardwick stopped the bleeding with a jumper to pull the Lady Lions within six, 20-14. That bucket gave her eight points in the game and 1,001 for her career. Albright hung on for the rest of the half, never allowing the Blue Knights to increase their lead. The Lady Lions got as close as three points on three occasions in the waning minutes of the half, and trailed 34-31 at intermission.
Mount St. Mary entered the game holding opponents to just 29.9% shooting from the field on the season, the best total in the nation in Division III. The Lady Lions shot 41.4% from the floor, but were 0-3 from three-point range. The Blue Knights dominated the glass, however, pulling down 26 rebounds in the half to just 12 for Albright. Included in that total were 11 offensive boards that led to 10 second chance points. Albright, by contrast, had only three offensive rebounds and no second-chance points.
The Lady Lions came out firing to start the second half. Bre Dillon blocked a Vanessa Lawson shot, grabbed the rebound, and found Hardwick for a lay up to pull Albright within a point. Then Annie McMahon came up with a steal, leading to a Jess McGinness lay-up to give Albright its first lead since early in the first half, 35-34. The Blue Knights called a quick time out, and after the break Jackie Markert hit a jumper to stop the Albright momentum and put the Knights back on top 36-35. That bucket started a 14-3 Blue Knight run that saw their lead grow to a game-high 10 points, 48-38, with 13 minutes left in the ball game.
The Mount St. Mary lead increased to 15, 55-40, on a Shannon Sangster hoop with just under eight minutes remaining. The Lady Lions didn't let Mount St. Mary get an further away, but the Skyline Conference Champions made 14 of 19 free throws in the second half to keep Albright from making a late run. Albright did not get closer than 10 points for the rest of the night, as the Blue Knights advanced to the second round of the tournament.
Hardwick's 23 points came on 10-14 shooting from the field and 3-4 shooting from the line. McGinness was the only other Lady Lion to finish in double figures, tossing in 13 points. Albright shot 43.1% from the floor for the game, but made just 1-9 three point attempts. Mount St. Mary continued its dominance of the boards in the second half, finishing the game with 46 rebounds to just 24 for Albright, including 17-6 on the offensive glass. Sangster led four Blue Knight starters in double figures with 16 points on 8-11 shooting. Markert finished with 15 points, followed by Lawson with 12 and Meredith Paggi with 11.
The loss brings to a close the career of four Albright seniors who have made up the most successful class ever to play women's basketball at Albright. Hardwick, Meredith Berger, Staci Waligorski, and Jen DuPrau leave Albright with 57 career wins, by far the highest total of any class. Along with Hardwick becoming the 10th member of the women's 1,000th point club, Berger put her name in the record books earlier in February with her 128th career blocked shot. All four of these young ladies played an integral part in Albright's rise to the national scene.
