Posted: Nov 16, 2014
MANHATTAN, NY- The Juniata women's basketball team led early in the first half but Western CT. State came back to defeat the Eagles 59-52 at the NYU Tip-Off Tournament on Sunday. JC's record falls to 0-2 while the Colonials even their record at 1-1.
Kelsey Livoti (Altoona, PA/Bishop Guilfoyle) led all scorers with 19 points on 7-of-16 shooting. Danielle Atkinson (Lancaster, PA/Lancaster Catholic) chipped in 10 points while also picking up three steals and two assists. Natalie Hager (Franklin, PA/Franklin) posted nine points and eight rebounds.
The Eagles got out to a 10-0 lead in the early stages of the first half and held a 14-5 advantage with 13:45 showing on the clock. A 13-0 Colonial run, however, put Western Ct. State ahead 18-14 with 8:09 left in the period and went into halftime ahead 27-20.
Despite the Colonials still holding the lead in the second half, Juniata was able to chip away as it twice got to within four points of tying the contest up and got to within two points after Hager hit a three-point shot with 3:53 remaining to play to get JC to within 49-47.
Juniata still only trailed by just three points, 51-48, after Hager converted one of two free throw attempts with 2:35 left on the game clock. In the last 43 seconds, however, the Colonials made good on all five of their free throw attempts to secure the victory.
Western CT. State was 18-of-52 (34.6%) in field goals to Juniata's 18-of-62 (29%). The Colonials were good on 8-of-19 (42.1%) three-points shots compared to the Eagles 4-of-15 (26.7%).
Livoti was named to the All-Tournament team. The senior started both games for the Eagles averaging 16.5 points per game and 23.5 minutes on the court.
Juniata will stay on the road as it travels to Frostburg, MD to take on the Bobcats on Wednesday night. Game time will be at 5:30 p.m.