ELIZABETHTOWN, Pa. — Coming off its first losing streak since the 2012-13 season, the Elizabethtown College women's basketball team got back on the winning track Thursday evening in a 71-58 victory over Landmark opponent Juniata. It was the second meeting of the season between the two schools, with E-town earning the sweep after a win on the road in Huntingdon back in early December. Krissy Pennell set a new career-high with 15 points for the Jays.
It was a game of runs through the first 11 minutes of the contest. Elizabethtown (9-2, 3-2 Landmark) began the game on an 8-0 run, capped off by Alyssa Aichele's lay-in to convert a Juniata turnover into points. Taylor Alwine came up with the steal and Pennell dished to Aichele for the bucket. Alwine had four of the Jays' eight points.
Juniata's (4-10, 2-3 Landmark) leading scorer, Kelsey Livoti, sank a trey and a jumper to bring the Eagles back within three at 8-5 with 15:39 on the clock in the first half. After E-town missed on its next three shot attempts, Olivia Halfpenny sank Juniata's second three of the game to tie it up and give the visitors their own 8-0 run to answer with a little under 14 minutes left.
Over the following five minutes, E-town went on an 11-3 run to distance itself. Rachel Forjan put in eight of those 11 and the Jays led 19-11 after Pennell split a pair of free throws with 8:47 to go in the half.
The Eagles, who never led in the game, would only get as close as six throughout the remainder of the half. Emily Martin completed an and-one with 21 seconds on the clock to push the lead to 15, but Katy Leamer hit a trey two seconds before the buzzer to make it 34-22 at the break.
The second half belonged to Pennell, who scored 12 of her 15 points in the final period. She was 3-for-5 from the floor and hit five of her eight foul shots. Pennell sank a three-pointer, finishing 1-of-2 from beyond the arc.
The sophomore point guard hit the first basket of the second half as E-town scored six of the first nine points.
Juniata threatened a few times to pull back into the game, getting the deficit near single digits, but the Blue Jays always had a response.
After Halfpenny hit another three, Emily Young found Erika Ferro down low. The senior made a nice move to find space on the opposite side of the rim and hit the reverse layup to send E-town's lead back up to 12.
Pennell hit her five second-half free throws all within the final ten minutes. She finished 6-for-10 at the line and as a team Elizabethtown shot 23-of-34. The Eastern York grad also had three assists and two steals in a team-high 35 minutes of action.
Forjan and Alwine were also in double figures with 12 apiece. Aichele filled the stat sheet with eight points, six rebounds, and four steals. Young had eight points and seven rebounds off the bench and Martin finished with seven points.
The Jays controlled the paint, outscoring Juniata down low 26-18. E-town had 11 second-chance points while the Eagles had zero.
The women's basketball team will stay home for one more game, facing Moravian on Saturday, January 10 at 2 p.m.
