HUNTINGDON, Pa.- The Juniata women's basketball team played #15 The University of Scranton tough throughout, but the Royals managed to pull away late as the Eagles lost, 69-57, Saturday afternoon inside Memorial Gymnasium.
The Royals opened the scoring with a layup, and the Eagles answered on the other end with a Grace Long (Harrisburg, Pa. / Central Dauphin) three of a pass from Larissa Leonard (Three Springs, Pa. / Southern Huntingdon). Gracie Stauffer (Loysville, Pa. / West Perry) scored inside off a pass from Cassie Mock (Martinsburg, Pa. / Central Martinsburg) and following another Royal layup Mock converted two free throws to make it 7-4. Scranton slowly pulled, and even and with just under three minutes to go in the first, they led 9-7. Trailing by six, Stauffer drilled a three off a pass from Cassidy Arnold (York, Pa. / Eastern York HS), but the Royals countered with a three of their own as they by six after one.
The Royals extended their lead to as many as 13 in the second quarter. An Abigail E'nama (Lewes, Del. / Cape Henlopen HS) layup on the right side made it 33-23, but two Scranton foul shots right at the end of the quarter increased the deficit to 12 heading into the locker room at the half.
Stauffer scored on back to back layups to start the second half to cut the Royal lead to single digits. The teams traded buckets over the next few minutes, with a Stauffer and one layup off a pass from Long cut the deficit down to seven. This time the Eagles managed to break through, with another Stauffer layup and a Long three from the wing made it 41-40. A pair of Mock foul shots pushed the Eagles ahead, 42-41. The teams traded foul shots the rest of the quarter, with the Royals heading into the fourth ahead 47-46 after a sinking two foul shots in the final minute.
Scranton opened the fourth on an 8-0 run, and the Eagles tried to mount one last surge. A Mock jumper and later a Madison Colyer (Newville, Pa. / Big Spring) triple brought JC within five. The Royals answered with a three before a Taylor Vrabel (Chambersburg, Pa. / Chambersburg) layup and a E'Nama bucket inside made it 59-55 with just under three minutes to go. Scranton managed to hold the Eagles off and make their foul shots down the stretch to ice the game.
The Eagles managed to hold Scranton to 28.1% shooting from the field, but the Royals shot 86.1% from the foul line and made 31 of them.
Juniata will host Elizabethtown in their final home game of the season, Wednesday at 7:00