Dan Sherman
Asst. SID
Junaita College
814-641-3513
HUNTINGDON, Pa., The Juniata College women's basketball team wrapped up the 2014-15 season with an 86-78 loss to Moravian on Sunday. The team finished 6-10 against Landmark Conference opponents this season.
Senior Kelsey Livoti (Altoona, PA / Bishop Guilfoyle) scored her 1,000th career point. She led the team with 15 points, the exact number she needed to achieve the mark. Livoti fouled out of the game with 2:26 remaining on the clock and her team leading by six.
Olivia Halfpenny (McVeytown, Mifflin County) made five of eight shots to finish with 14 points, adding three rebounds and an assist. Sophomore Katy Leamer (Bellwood, PA / Bellwood-Antis) scored 11 points, with eight rebounds, a block, a steal, and an assist. Freshman Danielle Atkinson (Lancaster, PA / Lancaster Catholic) and Maria Photiades (Abottstown, PA / Delone Catholic HS) each reached double figures with 10 points. Atkinson pulled in nine rebounds to finish just shy of a double-double, while Photiades grabbed five.
After Rachael Anstine (York, PA / Dallastown) followed a Leamer layup with one of her own, The Eagles held onto an eight-point lead with under eight minutes left in regulation. Moravian went on an 8-0 run to tie the game. Moments later, Anstine sank a free-throw to retake the lead.
Just under five minutes left, Halfpenny drained a jumper to pull ahead by three. Moravian followed with another 8-point run to take a 76-71 advantage. Despite shooting and rebounding well, Juniata could not overcome the late mistakes. The Eagles have struggles to close out teams down the stretch all season, and that again proved to be the case this afternoon.
Speaking after the game, head coach Danny Young-Uhrich said, "We showed that we can play with this team. Every first half, we do a great job of putting things together. It was fun to watch the girls play, they looked like they were having fun out there. We built ourselves nice leading heading into the half, but Moravian was just too much in the second half. They have four people in their starting lineup that play 30+ minutes. That's some toughness on their part. We just could not finish, which is pretty fitting for the year overall." Discussing the season further, she added, "We had some pretty close games, but we just could not close them. Hopefully, we can learn from this and not make the same mistakes next season. There is a heck of a lot of talent on this roster and I think this experience helps, it really does." Looking ahead the coach hopes that the experience pays off in the future, "Eight wins is not a lot for our program, but hopefully it provides the fuel to the fire to do better next season and return to the postseason."
