SCRANTON, Pa. – Juniata College women's basketball reached the 20-win mark and senior guard Ashton Bankos (York, Pa./York Catholic) went over the 1,000-point mark for her career as Juniata posted a 66-45 victory over the University of Scranton, Friday night at the Long Center.
Juniata, ranked No. 11 in the USA Today/ESPN poll and No. 13 in the D3hoops.com rankings, improved to 20-1 overall, 10-0 in the Landmark Conference, marking the Eagles' second straight 20-win season and the third in program history.
Bankos became the 12th player in Juniata women's basketball history to reach 1,000 career points with her 3-point bucket at the 5:24 mark of the first half, giving the Eagles a 27-14 lead. She finished with 15 points on 4-of-11 from the floor and a 6-of-6 mark at the free throw line, and turned her first double-double of the season with a game-high 14 rebounds.
Sophomore Kate McDonald (Pennsylvania Furnace, Pa./State College Area) led the Eagles with a double-double of 16 points and 13 rebounds, and added four assists, three steals and two blocks. Jordan Speck (Huntingdon, Pa./Southern Huntingdon) rounded out the list of Juniata's double-digit scorers with 13 points.
After Scranton (12-9, 7-3 Landmark) scored the game's first points on a Meredith Mesaris jump shot, Juniata rattled off the next seven points, including an Alyssia Gordon (Spring Grove, Pa./Spring Grove) 3-pointer.
A slow-developing 9-0 Juniata run later in the half, including four points by Bankos, gave the Eagles a commanding 22-7 advantage, as Scranton failed to score a point for nearly nine minutes. The Lady Royals finally broke the scoring hex with 6:31 showing on the first half clock, as Mesaris sank a pair of foul shots to cut the Eagle lead to 22-9.
Juniata held a 29-21 lead at the break, after a 7-0 Scranton run late in the first half. The Lady Royals were still within striking distance of the Eagles with 14:23 remaining in the second half, when another lengthy Scranton scoring drought and 13-0 Juniata run ended with the Eagles holding a 52-32 lead with 9:20 on the clock.
That proved to be enough of a lead for Juniata, who shot just 35 percent from the field in the second half. However the Eagles were 12-of-18 at the free throw line in the second stanza, and defensively held the Lady Royals to 23 percent from the field.
Mesaris paced Scranton with 13 points, while Erin Boggan added seven off the bench.
Juniata will complete the road trip on Saturday, Feb. 4, at 2:00 p.m. when it faces Moravian College in Bethlehem, Pa.
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