By Tim Pierce

With Lycoming and Alvernia ahead of the Albright women's basketball team in the conference standings by a single game and those two squaring off on the other side of Reading, the best the Lady Lions could hope for in their game against Arcadia University was to remain one game out of the playoff race.

Led by the second double-double in as many games for freshman Kelecia Harris, the Red and White were able to take care of business and defeat the Arcadia University Knights, 54-51.

Harris led the Lady Lions from start to finish in the points department, scoring 10 out of the Lions first 11 points in the first half, ultimately ending the game with 21 points on 10-14 shooting from the field. Harris also pulled down 15 rebounds to go along with six steals and seven blocks on the night.

Trading baskets back and forth became a theme for the Lions and Knights throughout the game, as no team held a large lead at any point during the night.

Albright was able to run their lead to seven points close to midway through the second half after Harris scored five straight points to make the score 42-35 in favor of Albright with 11 minutes to go in the second frame.

Arcadia would not go easily into the cold Reading night, however, as a basket later in the half from Dominique Hassinger cut the Lady Lions lead to one point, which would be the closest that Arcadia would get.

After sophomore Jessica Venturelli nailed two from the charity stripe, Hassinger had a chance to tie the game for the Knights with less than five seconds to go, but she could not connect from long distance.

On the night, the Lady Lions of Albright shot 38% from the field (23-60), which will have to be better as they are set to welcome Messiah to the Bollman Center on Saturday, January 26th for a 2 o'clock tip off. Messiah has spent most of the 2012-2013 season ranked in the Divison III national polls, and currently sits at #5 overall.