Box Score

SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. – Despite shooting over fifty percent as a team in the first half and holding a double-digit lead, the East Stroudsburg University women's basketball team saw the Wheeling Jesuit University Cardinals rally for a 90-79 victory on Saturday.

ESU (0-1) came out of the gate firing on all cylinders against the Cardinals, hitting 10 buckets in the first quarter to take an early 21-11 advantage. The Warriors would seven-plus minutes without a basket though in the third quarter. Wheeling Jesuit (1-0) found its way to the free-throw line in the third quarter as the Cardinals trimmed the deficit to two points.

Junior Tiffany Lapotsky tallied a career-high 26 points in the contest for the Warriors on 10-of-21 shooting from the field. Lapotsky also finished with three rebounds, one assist, and one steal. Sophomore Amanda Pike set career-highs for ESU in points (14) and rebounds (5). Pike paced the Warriors by connecting on four 3-pointers. Junior Jordan Hertz added a game-high nine assists to go along with 13 points, four steals, and four rebounds.

Wheeling Jesuit was guided by a combined 55 points from Khira Burton and Chenelle Moore. Burton finished the contest with a game-high 31 points on 8-of-14 shooting and went 11-of-13 at the free-throw line. Moore tallied a double-double for the Cardinals, finishing with 24 points and 11 rebounds. Lauren Lipscomb added 10 points for WJU, while Ashley Rothert pulled-down a game-high 13 boards.
 
The Cardinals would take a 5-4 lead early in the opening quarter of action before ESU answered with a 6-0 run that would be capped by a layup from Hertz. Leading 10-7, Lapotsky would get the Warrior offense started on another run as she connected on a pair of layups while Pike drained a 3-pointer to make it 17-7.
 
ESU held the Cardinals to just one bucket over the final six minutes of play in the quarter as Rya Nelson delivered a layup for Wheeling Jesuit with 43 seconds left to trim the deficit to 19-11. Sophomore Marlene Bassett closed the quarter for ESU with a jumper after taking a pass from Hertz to make it 21-11.
 
Both teams would put their offense on display in the second quarter as the two combined for 47 points. Bassett increased the ESU lead to 12 with 7:25 left in the quarter following a layup that made it 27-15. The Cardinals rallied to cut the deficit to nine points with Taliah Cashwell hitting a 3-pointer with 5:10 remaining. Three possessions later, Pike would put ESU back up by 14 as her trey made it 36-22.
 
ESU took its largest lead of the contest with 1:36 left in the quarter off a layup from Lapotsky that made it 45-29. Wheeling Jesuit closed the quarter on a 5-0 run to head into the locker room trailing 45-34. The Cardinals shot 53 percent from the field in the second quarter after hitting just 29 percent of its shots in the first.
 
Pike quickly pushed the ESU lead back to 16 to start the second half after hitting a jumper followed by a 3-pointer. The quick start for the Warriors would fade away as Wheeling Jesuit countered with a 12-0 run to trim the gap to 50-46 with 5:32 remaining in the quarter. ESU would end the run with a pair of made free-throws from Lapotsky to push the lead to six.
 
The Cardinals would eventually knot the score with 1:31 left in the third quarter as Burton sank a pair of shots at the charity stripe. ESU ended its shooting drought with 1:25 left on the clock as Lapotsky sank a trey to put the Warriors up 58-55. The bucket ended a seven-plus minute span that saw ESU go without hitting a shot from the field. Junior Dominique Rayam hit a pair of free throws to put the Warriors up five before Allie Taylor connected on a 3-pointer with five seconds left.
 
Both sides traded the lead early in the fourth quarter until ESU opened a four-point lead following a 3-pointer from Rayam that made it 73-69. The Cardinals started their rally with 3:16 left in the contest as Moore connected on a pair of layups to put Wheeling Jesuit in front 78-75. The Cardinals would score their final 10 points of the contest from the free-throw line and secure the 90-79 victory over the Warriors.
 
ESU returns to the court on Sunday morning with an 11 a.m. matchup against Bowie State on the final day of the Wolf's Bus Lines Basketball Classic, hosted by Shippensburg University.