HUNTINGDON, Pa. – Juniata College women's basketball improved to 6-0, the best start to a season in program history, with a dominating 77-40 victory over the visiting Frostburg State University Bobcats Sunday afternoon.
What was the difference maker? Well, it would be difficult to pinpoint one aspect that pushed Juniata (6-0) over the edge for the big win. An argument could be made it was the players off the bench that proved to be the game changers as they accounted for 34 of Juniata's 77 points. Or maybe it was the 30 Bobcat turnovers that the Eagles were able to translate into a solid 30 points, while Juniata only committed 11 turnovers in the contest.
Whatever it was, it certainly worked for Juniata, so much so that the 37-point margin was the highest for the Eagles since last season's 84-46 blowout against Merchant Marine.
In the first stanza Juniata put-up an 11-0 scoring run on Frostburg (2-3) with just 6:30 left in the half. The run featured a junior Alyssia Gordon (Spring Grove, Pa./Spring Grove) jumper and a three-pointer sandwiched between two senior Meagan Raville (McSherrystown, Pa./Delone Catholic) treys.
Juniata headed into intermission with a respectable 37-18 lead over the Bobcats and shifted its game plan slightly to focus more on shooting from the outside, highlighted by the Eagles throwing-up 16 three-point attempts and sinking seven in the second half.
Six of those seven treys came between the 24th and 28th minute when Juniata went on a 22-12 scoring tear over Frostburg. It seemed everyone on the floor wanted a piece of the three-point pie, as Ashton Bankos (York, Pa./York Catholic) and Raville charted one apiece, with sophomore Kate McDonald (Pennsylvania Furnace, Pa./State College Area) and Gordon posting two each. Junior Natalie Glinsky (Indiana, Pa./Indiana) added two jumpers to the run, both scored within 22 seconds of one another.
With a 71-38 lead, Head Coach Danny Young-Uhrich gave all of her freshmen a chance to show what they bring to the table and put all five of Juniata's newcomers into the game. The group charted six points with Alix Sellers (Huntingdon, Pa./Huntingdon Area), Kelsey Livoti (Altoona, Pa./Bishop Guilfoyle) and Emily Fox (Fleetwood, Pa./Brandywine Heights) each sinking a basket.
The bench was led by Raville who posted 18 points and a .500 shooting percentage from the field. Gordon logged 17 points in the contest and McDonald owned 10. Bankos headed the rebounding effort with six, while Raville and Sellars added five apiece.
The Eagles finished the day with a .392 shooting percentage backed by a .800 charity stripe percentage. Juniata pulled down 42 rebounds to Frostburg's 39, while also swiping 15 steals from the Bobcats. Frostburg walked away with a .340 shooting percentage and went just 7-for-14 from the free-throw line.
Juniata begins Landmark Conference play against rival Susquehanna University on Saturday, Dec. 3, at 7:30 p.m.
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