One game removed from the team's first win, and a 19-point performance from a freshman, the Lycoming women's basketball team welcomed Arcadia into Lamade Gymnasium for a Saturday afternoon Commonwealth Conference contest.
That freshman - Shannon Wheeler - continued to play at the level that helped Lycoming secure its first win of the season. The 5-foot-3 guard scored 10 points to go with four assists as Lycoming defeated Arcadia, 66-55. The win levels Lycoming's conference record at 2-2 while its overall record moves to 2-5.
Wheeler spelled Rachael Scheller throughout the contest and was especially good down the stretch as Lycoming iced the game.
"As games keep going on I'm getting more comfortable playing with my team," Wheeler said. "In the beginning it was a little shaky. I was nervous because it was new to me, but now I'm more comfortable getting adjusted."
In her first six appearances with the Warriors, Wheeler has led the team in scoring at 9.8 points per game. Wheeler has also worked wonders for Scheller, who has been a solid player off the bench to spell her throughout games. Wheeler has also added 20 assists in five games.
Scheller gave everyone in the gym a quick scare when she fell down, grabbing her leg midway through the first half. Despite asking not to be subbed out, Scheller was quickly pulled. But as quick as Ditzler was to pull Scheller, she was even quicker to put her back in after she was cleared to return.
The injury appeared to be of the nagging variety, which put Scheller in a play-through-pain scenario throughout the contest. But Scheller finished with four points, three steals and four assists. The three steals puts her just three away from breaking the top five in Lycoming history for steals in a career.
The Warriors created 35 turnovers, which led to 27 points.
"I thought the key was creating points off those turnovers," Ditzler said. "I thought defensively we covered shooters well and did some nice things. We also rebounded well."
Fresh off her career-high nine-point performance against Elizabethtown, Shanely Harlacker opened the game with a trey and later added her second to push Lycoming's lead to 19-12 with 8:25 left in the first half. She finished with eight points and two steals.
"Shanely comes from a great high school program, Red Lion," Ditzler said. "She's been taught the fundamentals well. We recruited her because she was a great outside shooter and now she's worked on her shot and it's falling."
ARCADIA (4-4, 0-4 CC)
Valerie DiMuro 3-6 6-7 12; Sara DeCinque 4-9 0-3 11; Samantha Caligiuri 2-11 5-7 10; Dominique Hassinger 4-10 2-3 10; Maureen Fiocca 1-5 2-2 5; Rachel Jacob 0-1 3-4 3; Michaela Holleran 1-4 0-0 3; Morgan Wensley 0-4 1-2 1; Tamara Moskowitz 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 15-51 19-28 55.
LYCOMING (2-5, 2-2 CC)
Julia Antonelli 5-5 2-2 12; Shannon Wheeler 5-10 0-0 10; Shanley Harlacker 3-8 0-0 8; Leeann Randall 2-6 0-0 6; Janelle Ziminski 3-5 0-0 6; Olivia Manges 3-8 0-0 6; Kat Andriani 2-3 1-2 5; Ali Derr 2-4 0-0 4; Kylee Sutton 2-3 0-0 4; Chelsea Henderson 1-5 1-1 3; Rachael Scheller 1-11 0-0 2; Victoria Siebecker 0-0 0-0 0; Taylor Ford 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 29-70 4-5 66.
Halftime:?Lycoming, 31-18. 3-point goals--Arcadia 6-24 (DeCinque 3-7; Fiocca 1-3; Holleran 1-4; Caligiuri 1-5; Moskowitz 0-1; Wensley 0-2; Hassinger 0-2), Lycoming 4-22 (Randall 2-4; Harlacker 2-7; Ziminski 0-2; Manges 0-1; Scheller 0-3; Ford 0-2; Wheeler 0-3). Fouled out--Arcadia-None. Rebounds--Arcadia 39 (DiMuro 6), Lycoming 42 (Henderson 8). Assists--Arcadia 9 (Hassinger 7), Lycoming 21 (Scheller 4; Wheeler 4). Total fouls--Arcadia 9, Lycoming 24. Technical fouls--None. A-367
