HUNTINGDON, PA. - Juniata College women's basketball fell 90-81 at the hands of York College of Pennsylvania Saturday night in the Kennedy Sports + Recreation Center, during the 2012 NCAA Women's Basketball Championship 2nd Round.
The Eagles got off to a rough start, allowing the Spartans to go on a 13-4 lead in the first 3:30 of the game. However, the Eagles weren't going to give up that easily, and Juniata (26-3) was able to shrink York's 52-35 lead with 1:27 left in the first half. Juniata put up six points to the Spartans' zero to close out the stanza to decrease the Spartan's lead to 11. Juniata's run was made up of a sophomore Kate McDonald (Pennsylvania Furnace, Pa./State College Area) foul shot, a junior Jordan Speck (Huntingdon, Pa./Southern Huntingdon) 3-pointer, followed by a McDonald drive in the paint.
With a halftime score of 52-41, the Eagles certainly had their work cut out for them, but York's stellar shooting from the field and beyond the arc put the game out of reach for the Eagles. The Spartan's finished the night shooting an incredible 66% from the floor, combined with a .625 performance from 3-point range. Juniata managed a .391 shooting percentage from the field and sunk 14-of-31 3-pointers for a .452 clip.
Juniata made a last ditch effort to try to close up the 19-point score deficit, with York holding an 88-69 advantage. Senior Meagan Raville (McSherrystown, Pa./Delone Catholic) sunk a pair of foul shots, senior Ashton Bankos (York, Pa./York Catholic) drove for a layup, McDonald added a layup, Speck and sophomore Jordan Hileman (Williamsburg, Pa./Williamsburg) each tossed in a 3-pointer all within the last two minutes left on the clock to bring the game to within just nine points.
McDonald led Juniata in scoring with 16 points and completed the double-double with 17 rebounds. Bankos and Speck each logged 15 points, and Hileman notched 13. Bankos also swiped five steals and charted five assists. Speck sunk five 3-pointers and Hileman drained three.
Juniata finished its season with a 26-3 overall record, and went 14-0 in Landmark Conference play.
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