E-town rallies to beat Franklin & Marshall, win Terry Greene Memorial Tournament

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Erika Ferro vs. Lycoming 2/18/13
 
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LANCASTER, Pa.Rachel Forjan recorded her second straight 20-point game and the Elizabethtown women's basketball team erased a three-point halftime deficit to defeat Franklin & Marshall 59-48 Sunday afternoon in the championship game of the Terry Greene Memorial Tournament.

Forjan scored 11 points after halftime in leading the Blue Jays to their third tournament title at Franklin & Marshall in the last six seasons. The York Catholic grad had one 20-point game as a freshman, that being a 23-point output against Moravian in her second career game. In two games this season, Forjan has already scored 21 and 20, leading the team with a 20.5 points per game average.

The lead changed hands six times in the first half as the Blue Jays (2-0) and Diplomats (1-1) each tried to gain momentum. F&M scored seven straight points, four on a pair of layups from Jessica Dowicz, to take its largest lead of the first half, 11-4, 6:39 in.

E-town recovered quickly with long range shooting bringing them back. Forjan made two in a row and Nikki Thompson sank another for her first career basket to tie the score at 15 with just under nine minutes to play in the half.

Down 27-24 at intermission, the Blue Jays went on a 10-4 run at the start of the second half to lead 34-31.

With 5:08 to play, Elizabethtown's lead was one, 46-45, following a jumper from the Diplomats' Emma Lisle. Franklin & Marshall would not come up with another field goal, however, until Hannah Nussbaum made a layup at the buzzer.

The Blue Jays took advantage of five consecutive missed shots by F&M and two turnovers to end the game on a 13-3 run.

Kendra Beittel scored all eight of her points in the second half for E-town and Erika Ferro netted eight to go along with nine rebounds.

Taylor Kreider and the Dips' Lisle grabbed 14 rebounds apiece. Kreider, a reliable source of offense most every night, had the toughest game of her career from a shooting standpoint, as she was 1-of-17 from the floor for seven points. The senior forward found other ways to contribute, though, be it her 14 boards, five steals or four assists. She led Elizabethtown in all three categories.

Nussbaum generated much of the Diplomats offense. She scored 17 and Dowicz had 10 off the bench. Lisle's 14 rebounds, supplemented by 10 from Kristina McCarthy's 10 and Sam Plunkett's seven allowed F&M to hold a 53-46 edge on the boards.

Elizabethtown, which heads up to Selinsgrove Wednesday for a 7 p.m. tip at Susquehanna, took much better care of the ball committing only 12 turnovers to F&M's 24.