HUNTINGDON, Pa. – Juniata College women's basketball broke-open Landmark Conference action and continued its undefeated season with an 83-53 victory over the Crusaders of Susquehanna University Saturday night in the Kennedy Sports and Recreation Center.
Seniors Ashton Bankos (York, Pa./York Catholic) and Meagan Raville (McSherrystown, Pa./Delone Catholic) led the Juniata offensive charge with 14 points apiece. Jordan Speck (Huntingdon, Pa./Southern Huntingdon) and Jordan Hileman (Williamsburg, Pa./Williamsburg) each posted 13, while junior Alyssia Gordon (Spring Grove, Pa./Spring Grove) and sophomore Kate McDonald (Pennsylvania Furnace, Pa./State College Area) put up 10 each for the Eagles. Accompanying McDonald's 10 points were 10 rebounds, six of which were on the offensive side of the ball.
Juniata (7-0, 1-0 Landmark) jumped to a 15-0 lead before it allowed the Crusaders to sink a jumper. With the score at 15-2 just seven minutes in, the Eagles continued to extend their lead and went on another scoring tear for the next two minutes. By the ninth minute, Susquehanna was trailing Juniata 24-2.
The first half continued to see long Juniata scoring streaks and equally as long Susquehanna (2-3, 0-1 Landmark) droughts, and when the buzzer rang for halftime the Eagles had more than a demanding lead at 50-14. The 50 first stanza points is the most Juniata has drained in a half so far this season.
At intermission Bankos, Speck, McDonald, and Hileman all had nine points and the Juniata squad was shooting .375 from the field and held an impressive .563 shooting percentage from beyond the arch. The Crusaders managed just a .185 field goal percentage in the half.
The beginning of the second 20 minutes of play saw another Juniata scoring frenzy as the Eagles posted a 7-0 run on the Crusaders, highlighted by Speck and Bankos treys and a McDonald good foul shot.
The Crusaders went on a run themselves in the 31st minute as they fought for an 18-0 scoring streak that was finally broken in the 36th minute by a Gordon good shot from the charity stripe.
Juniata outrebounded Susquehanna 64-36, 32 of which were offensive eclipsing the squad's previous offensive rebounding game high of 20. The offensive rebounding assisted the squad to 27 second-chance points. The Eagles also drained a season high 13 3-pointers to the Crusaders' four. Four treys were produced by Speck, while Bankos and Hileman chalked up three apiece.
Juniata returns to Kennedy S+RC on Tuesday, Dec. 6, for a 7:00 p.m. contest against Dickinson College.
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