By: Jennifer Jones
Director of Sports Information
jonesj@juniata.edu • juniatasports.net
Photo: Jennifer Jones
NEW YORK, N.Y. – The Juniata College women's basketball team fell 68-54 to Cabrini College in day one of the New York University Holiday Tournament Friday afternoon. The Cavaliers used a 13-1 run late in the first half to jump out ahead and Juniata could not close the gap, falling to 5-5 overall with the loss. Cabrini, who is receiving votes in the USA Today Coaches Poll, improved to 8-2 with the win.
"We definitely got off to a slow start offensively," said head coach Danny Young-Uhrich. "We wanted to hold them to under 30 points in each half and we didn't get it done. We pride ourselves on offense, but defense fuels it."
The Eagles were led by junior Kelsey Livoti (Altoona, Pa./Bishop Guilfoyle) who finished with 15 points. Senior Kate McDonald (Pennsylvania Furnace, Pa./State College Area) put in 10 points of her own and earned a team-high four steals. Making her presence felt in the paint was freshman Katy Leamer (Altoona, Pa./Bellwood-Antis). The forward grabbed a game and career-high 10 boards and finished with a career-best three steals.
Cabrini jumped out to a 8-0 lead before the Juniata began to fight back. Leamer hit a jumper to open scoring and the Eagles went on a 13-4 run to tie the game up at 12-all. It would be tied twice more before the Cavaliers regained the lead with 9:19 on the clock. The Eagles pulled within one off a free throw by McDonald but Cabrini responded with an 18-4 run to push their lead to 15 with 1:18 left before the break.
The Cavaliers continued the offensive pressure and went up by as many as 30 points in the second half when the Eagles regrouped and began to fight back. Juniata outscored Cabrini 22-6 in the final seven minutes of play, but fell short of the comeback as time expired.
"We've been telling them to play with a sense of urgency and that's what they did," Young-Uhrich said of the team's finish. "But 30 points down is hard to come back from."
Juniata will now face Oswego State on Saturday, Jan. 4 at 1 p.m. This is the first meeting all-time of these two programs. Oswego is 4-4 this season after losing four of its last five contests. The Lakers are led by senior guard Jenn Robbins. She averages over 18.5 points per game and is ranked 18th nationally in three-point field goals per game.
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