Box Score

PHILADELPHIA - Senior guard Imani Brown scored 27 points and East Stroudsburg University held Holy Family to 35.3 percent shooting and forced 23 turnovers in a 70-53 road win in non-conference women's basketball on Wednesday night.

Brown, who scored 21 points in an 88-85 (OT) loss at New Haven in the season opener last Friday, had her ninth career 20-point game after notching four during a first team All-PSAC East campaign as a junior, when she averaged 13.3 points per game.

Sophomore guard Jordan Hertz had a career-high 12 points, tied her career-best with seven rebounds and was one of three players with five assists for the Warriors (1-1).

Sophomore guard Tiffany Lapotsky, who dropped a career-high 25 points at New Haven, had 11 points, five rebounds and five assists, and freshman forward Marlene Bassett scored 11 points after going for 10 in the opener.

Hertz, Lapotsky and junior guard Ann McKnight (3 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists) combined to play all but four of 120 possible minutes in the backcourt for the Warriors.

Casey Thomas scored 12 points, Katie O'Hare had 10 off the bench and Jada Smith had seven points and 13 rebounds for Holy Family (0-3), which had a 23-11 turnover deficit.

Brown scored 14 of her 27 points in the first half as ESU led 37-25 at the break, including two three's as the Warriors closed the half on an 8-0 run.

Both teams had 12-0 runs in the half, with Holy Family opening an 18-13 lead before ESU answered with its own 12-0 stretch almost immediately, featuring three's by Lapotsky and McKnight.

Holy Family never got closer than eight points in the second half, with a 7-0 run on two buckets by Bassett and a three by Brown giving ESU a 50-35 lead late in the third quarter.

HFU scored seven straight to pull within 10 (54-44) two minutes into the fourth quarter before the Warriors scored 13 of the next 14 points - a tip-in by Hertz, a three by Lapotsky, a layup by Hertz and five straight points on a layup and a three by Brown - in a span of four minutes.

Brown's fifth and final three-pointer gave ESU a 23-point lead (70-47), its largest of the game, with just over two minutes left.

Holy Family was 18-for-51 from the field and 4-for-16 from the three-point line.

ESU shot 42.0 percent (29-for-69) and had a 9-for-20 mark from long distance, including 5-for-10 by Brown and 3-for-4 by Lapotsky.

The Warriors, the PSAC East preseason favorite after making their first PSAC Final Four appearance in 10 years last season, open conference action at western division foes Clarion on Saturday and Pitt-Johnstown on Sunday.