EAST STROUDSBURG –  Senior Tiffany Lapotsky matched a career-high with 30 points and senior Jordan Hertz added a career-best 22 points as the East Stroudsburg University women's basketball team defeated Mercyhurst 77-65 on Saturday night inside Koehler Fieldhouse.
 
ESU (7-4, 3-2 PSAC) outscored the Lakers 50-31 in the second half, including 31-19 in the fourth quarter. Mercyhurst held the lead for 23:56 in the contest but would be unable to carry over its momentum from the first half, shooting just 4-of-12 from the field in the third quarter.
 
Lapotsky finished the contest 9-of-16 from the field with a pair of assists and three rebounds. 11 of her points would come at the charity stripe as she went 11-of-13 to help fuel the Warriors' comeback. Hertz went 8-of-16 from the field and 3-of-3 from downtown, while redshirt junior Sadie Cresswell added 11 points for ESU.
 
Mercyhurst controlled the contest from the opening tip as the Lakers shot 60 percent (9-of-15) from the field to take a 19-9 advantage into the second quarter. The Warriors hit just two of their 10 shots and added five points at the free-throw line.
 
The Warriors responded in the second quarter after the Lakers built a double-digit lead. Hertz drained a trey to trim the deficit to 23-16 before Cresswell followed with a 3-ball of her own to make it 23-19 with 6:49 left in the half.
 
Lapotsky finished back-to-back layups with just over three minutes left to play as ESU cut the gap to 28-25. Mercyhurst worked to increase the lead to nine before redshirt sophomore Julia Kutz finished a layup to close the scoring and make it 34-27 heading into halftime.
 
ESU knotted the score with 6:54 left in the third quarter as Lapotsky took a feed from junior Abby Schoffstall to make it 38-38. She would later even the score at 42-42 before giving the Warriors a 43-42 lead at the charity stripe. Her string of points continued as an old-fashioned 3-point play gave ESU a 46-42 advantage with 4:01 left in the quarter. Mercyhurst rallied to close the gap and knot the score 46-46 heading to the fourth quarter.
 
Mercyhurst increased its lead to 54-50 early in the quarter before a trey from Cresswell cut the gap to 54-53 with 7:06 left to play. The Warriors would take the lead for good with 6:18 left in the contest after Lapotsky completed another old-fashioned 3-point play. A steal by Schoffstall followed by a layup off the fast break increased ESU's lead to 65-55 with 4:24 left on the clock. Hertz helped to seal the deal for the Warriors with less than a minute left to play as she connected on a 3-pointer to give ESU a 71-59 lead.
 
ESU finished the game 26-of-53 from the field and 6-of-9 from downtown while tallying nine steals. The Lakers went 25-of-52 from the floor and 2-of-6 from 3-point range while holding a 33-32 advantage in rebounds. ESU turned the ball over 17 times in the contest while the Lakers committed 19 turnovers.
 
The Warriors return to the court on January 3, 2020, as they open PSAC East play on the road against Kutztown beginning at 5:30 p.m. ESU also heads to Millersville on January 6 before returning home on January 8 to host Bloomsburg inside Koehler Fieldhouse at 6 p.m.