HUNTINGDON, Pa. – Juniata College women's basketball proved once again that any one player could have a big night and make all the difference. Friday night was junior Natalie Glinsky's (Indiana, Pa./Indiana) turn.
With just 1:30 left on the game clock, Juniata took its first lead of the game against Catholic University of America with a Glinsky 3-pointer. Glinsky hustled back on defense, earned a steal that drew a foul just 11 seconds later. Glinsky drained both foul shot opportunities to increase the Eagle lead to three points with the score at 53-50.
Glinsky's efforts in the waning moments of a game that seemed to be all Catholic, allowed the Eagles to sneak away with a 55-52 win to improve to 12-0 in the Landmark Conference and secure the top seed in the league Friday night in Kennedy Sports + Recreation Center.
The Cardinals held the Eagles to just 18 points in the first 20 minutes of play, far-and-away the least amount of points Juniata has scored in a first half this season. Catholic led at intermission with a 29-18 advantage and increased the lead to a 14-point peak four minutes into the second half with a 36-22 score.
However, Juniata wasn't going to go away and slowly inched the game to within just two points with just under five minutes left on the game clock thanks to a sophomore Kate McDonald (Pennsylvania Furnace, Pa./State College Area) put-back.
Catholic managed to take its lead back up to seven points as the game clock dwindled, but Juniata was not going to let the Cardinals steal away its perfect league record, and with a junior Alyssia Gordon (Spring Grove, Pa./Spring Grove) 3-pointer and jumper, the Eagles were down by just one point with a 51-50 score.
After Glinsky's trey and foul shots, Catholic responded with a Jill Woerner layup to bring the game again within just one point, but Juniata kept its cool and Gordon drew a foul to send herself to the charity stripe, where she drained both to secure the 55-52 Juniata win.
Juniata shot a low 28.6% from the field, 20-of-70, compared to Catholic's 46.8% performance, 22-of-47. The Eagles barely outrebounded the Cardinals with a 40-38 advantage. Juniata's saving grace in the match was its ability to translate 27 Cardinal turnovers into 29 points, while Catholic was only able to turn 15 Eagle turnovers into just eight points.
Glinsky was the game's high scorer with a season high 17 points, while Gordon netted 11 points and McDonald posted ten. Senior Ashton Bankos (York, Pa./York Catholic) led Juniata in rebounding with a game high 12 boards.
The Eagles resume play on Saturday, Feb. 11 at 2:00 p.m. with its final regular season home game against Goucher College. Prior to the start of the match, Juniata will honor its two graduating seniors, Bankos and Meagan Raville (McSherrystown, Pa./Delone Catholic).
