MADISON, N.J.-The Juniata women's basketball team suffered a 78-49 defeat on the road at Drew, Saturday afternoon at Baldwin Gym.
The Rangers built up a 9-0 lead in a little over three minutes before Larissa Leonard (Three Springs, Pa. / Southern Huntingdon) drained a three from the right corner off a pass from Cassie Mock (Martinsburg, Pa. / Central Martinsburg). A minute later, Mock found Grace Long (Harrisburg, Pa. / Central Dauphin) for a triple to make it 11-6. Following two Drew foul shots, Leonard grabbed an offensive rebound and wound up sinking her second three to make it 13-9. A steal by Leonard got the Eagles the ball back with just over three minutes to go in the first quarter. Leonard found Kaeana Rebert (Hanover, Pa. / South Western) on the right wing and she drilled another JC three to pull them within on, 13-12. A ranger flurry put them up 19-12 with a minute to go. On a baseline inbounds play, Rebert found Madison Colyer (Newville, Pa. / Big Spring) slicing to the hoop and she laid it in off the glass in traffic. In the final seconds of the quarter following a Ranger jumper, Averie Hess (Jersey Shore, Pa. / Jersey Shore) converted a jumper off a pass from Taylor Vrabel (Newville, Pa. / Big Spring).
The second quarter followed the same script as the Rangers scored the first eight points in the opening three minutes to go up by double digits before a Mock layup made it 29-18. Two foul shots by Gracie Stauffer (Loysville, Pa. / West Perry) and a jumper by Rebert off a Megan Haines (Bloomsburg, Pa. / Bloomsburg) assist made it 31-22 with four minutes to go in the half. A pair of free throws and a three put Drew up 36-22. Neither team scored for over three minutes until Rebert found Vrabel for a layup right at the buzzer as Juniata trailed by 12 at halftime, 36-24.
Drew opened the half with a layup before Long hit back to back threes off assists from Stauffer and Mock to cut the deficit to eight, 38-30. But the Eagles only scored once more over the next four minutes as the Rangers built their lead up to 22. A Rebert jumper of a find by Stauffer cut the lead to 17 at one point, but the Rangers kept coming and by the end of the quarter led, 56-34.
The Rangers cruised in the fourth as they took the second meeting between the teams.
Unlike the first meeting between the teams, Drew shot well from the field to the tune of 53.7% from the floor while Juniata shot 30.5%. Juniata did have a 40-32 advantage on the glass.
The Eagles will return to action Wednesday at Goucher with tipoff at 7:00.