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EAST STROUDSBURG – Shippensburg opened the second half on a 17-3 run to pull away from a nine-point halftime lead and posted a 74-51 victory over East Stroudsburg University in PSAC East women's basketball on Saturday afternoon at Koehler Fieldhouse.

Shawna Wert scored 19 points to lead four Shippensburg (9-9, 4-2) players in double figures and was 7-for-7 from the field and 2-for-2 from the three-point line. Kasey Gardner, the PSAC's leading scorer, had 15 points, Sarah Strybuc scored 11 and Dana Wert added 10 for the Lady Raiders. Shawna and Dana Wert both had six assists.

Junior guard Cyara Woodridge led ESU (4-13, 1-4) with a career-high 20 points and freshman guard Andrea Veres had 12 points to hit double figures for the sixth time this season and tied her career-high with five steals. Freshman forward Nicole Hill had four points and tied her career-high with nine rebounds and junior guard Jennifer Scherer scored nine points and was 3-for-4 from long distance.

Shippensburg led from tip to finish, but had to weather an ESU run late in the first half as the Warriors twice pulled within two points with less than three minutes left in the period. The Lady Raiders led 16-7 after a three-pointer by Shawna Wert at the eight-minute mark before Scherer answered with a pair of three-pointers to get the Warriors within three.

The Warriors maintained contact after Shippensburg stretched its lead back to eight (23-15). Woodridge scored, then set up a layup by Hill, and Veres had a steal and hit two free throws to get ESU within 23-21 with 2:57 remaining. Dana Wert's three-pointer gave Shippensburg some breathing room and a late push sent the game into halftime with ESU trailing, 34-25.

Scherer hit her third three-pointer of the game to answer Gardner's bucket to start the second half, but Shippensburg reestablished its double-figure lead on a layup by Gardner on its next possession and scored the next 15 points to go ahead 51-28 with 13:47 remaining.

Shippensburg held a 45-29 rebounding advantage, 28-15 in the second half, and shot 48.1 percent from the field for the game led by Shawna Wert's 7-for-7 mark. ESU shot 32.1 percent and both teams committed 23 turnovers.

ESU returns to the floor on Sunday with the second half of this weekend's back-to-back games at Koehler Fieldhouse. The Warriors host defending PSAC East regular season champion Millersville at 1 p.m. in a make-up game that was originally scheduled for Wednesday but postponed due to snow.