Box Score

Phoenixville, PA - The Crimson Eagles faced off against Valley Forge Christian College in the semi-final of the NCCAA East Region for women's basketball.

Early in the season, Philadelphia Biblical University knocked off the Patriots 53-51 in Langhorne, PA and were hoping to duplicate that effort. Playing on the road and in a tough environment is a different story. In the tiny gym, PBU watched the Patriots jump out to a 7-0 lead in the opening 2 minutes. The Crimson Eagles responded by closing the gap to 9-6. From there, another Patriots surge saw them open up a 12 point lead about halfway through the half at 18-6.

The lead would remain relatively around 12 until halftime came, with Valley Forge leading 33-21.

For the second half, the Crimson Eagles needed to eliminate their turnovers which were leading to easy buckets for their opponents. The first half saw Valley Forge score 14 points off of turnovers, compared to 2 points for PBU. Points in the paint were another area needing improvement in. Danielle Bradley-Wilson (Philadelphia, PA / Delaware Valley Charter) had a decent number of rebounds, but was being outdone on the boards by the Patriot's Amanda Compton. Thanks to Compton's presence, the Patriots owned the area below the basket, outscoring PBU in the paint 18-8 in the first 20 minutes.

The start of the second half was not exactly what PBU needed. Trailing by 12 coming out of the locker rooms, the Crimson Eagles quickly slipped to a 26 point deficit only 7 minutes into the half, 52-26. When PBU needed to make a game of it early on, they were outscored 19-5 out of the blocks.

It would the largest lead of the night for the Patriots and although the Crimson Eagles brought their deficit back to within 16 points, the irreversible damage had been done. They improved slightly in narrowing the points in the paint disparity, 14-10 in favor of VFCC, but the points off of turnovers continued to be a problem as it was all season. Valley Forge added 17 more points off of turnovers to the Crimson Eagles 3. It was the achilles heel of the Crimson Eagles season.

Valley Forge will advance to face Lancaster Bible College in the East Regional final with a 62-46 win. It's the end of the road for the Crimson Eagles in the 2011-2012 season.

It's also the end of a journey for senior Sara Poole (Edison, NJ / Timothy Christian) who played her final game in a Crimson Eagles uniform for the women's basketball program. Poole closed the book on her career with 2 points, 6 assists, and 4 steals.

Freshman guard Elyse Ceide (Hamilton, NJ/ Steinert) had a career-high with 14 points to go along with 9 rebounds. Hannah McCardle (Lewisberry, PA / Red Land) and Haley Weber (Newfane, NY / Newfane) each reached double figures with 11 and 10 points respectively.