By: Jennifer Jones
Director of Sports Information
jonesj@juniata.edu • juniatasports.net
WILKES-BARRE, Pa. – Juniata College women's basketball used a strong first half to defeat Wilkes University 62-52 Monday night. Juniata (7-5) led for over 35 minutes of the contest and held Wilkes (2-8) to a season-low point total.
"I think we had one of our better games defensively," said head coach Danny Young-Uhrich. "We played team defense. We still have a whole lot of stuff to work on but I think we played well defensively. This is our last non-conference game so it was good to end with a W. It's good momentum for Saturday."
Senior Kate McDonald (Pennsylvania Furnace, Pa./State College Area) netted her fifth 20-point performance of the season. She finished with a game-high 22 points and team-high 11 rebounds. Sophomore Paige Dennison (East Berlin, Pa./Bermudian Springs) regrouped from a slow start and put up 12 points of her own in the second half.
Juniata scored first and trailed just once (6-4) with 12:57 on the clock in the first half when McDonald tied it up for a third time with a layup. Capitalizing off a turnover, senior Jordan Hileman (Williamsburg, Pa./Williamsburg) then put the Eagles up by two and Juniata never looked back. They would lead by as many as 13 in the second half, putting in 17 points off 23 Colonel turnovers.
Four of the five starters finished with over 30 minutes on the court, including Hileman who ran the offense for a game-high 37 minutes. She along with McDonald, Dennison and junior Kelsey Livoti(Altoona, Pa./Bishop Guilfoyle) average over 30 minutes per game this season. Making her 2013-14 debut was sophomore Maria Photiades (Abbottstown, Pa./Delone Catholic). The guard had been sidelined with a preseason injury, but put in 10 minutes of work in the win.
The Eagles remain on the road and reopen conference play this coming Saturday, Jan. 11 at The University of Scranton in a double header with the men. The Juniata women tipoff at 4 p.m. in the night cap. They have won six of the last seven meetings, two of the last three in Scranton. This will be their 38th meeting in a rivalry that dates back to the 1975-76 season.
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