EAST STROUDSBURG – Senior Tiffany Lapotsky scored a game-high 18 points and the Warriors defense held Lock Haven to one point in the fourth quarter as the East Stroudsburg University women's basketball team defeated the Bald Eagles 58-42 on Wednesday.
 
ESU (14-6, 10-4 PSAC) limited Lock Haven to 12 points in the second half after the teams entered the break tied 30-30. The Warriors find themselves tied atop the East after Shippensburg fell at Shepherd on Wednesday night.
 
Lapotsky hit seven field goals in the contest and finished 2-of-3 from downtown for the Warriors. She added a game-high eight rebounds to go along with four steals, while redshirt junior Sadie Cresswell notched 12 points for ESU. Redshirt sophomore Julia Kutz added 10 points and eight boards to go along with three assists.
 
Lock Haven opened the contest with some momentum as Marena Lonardi gave the Bald Eagles a 6-5 advantage before Taylor Leidy finished a layup in the paint to extend the lead to 8-5 with 6:32 left to play in the quarter. The Warriors quickly answered as Lapotsky drained a trey to knot the score 8-8.
 
The lead would change hands several times down the stretch in the opening quarter as Lock Haven used a 6-0 run to take a 16-13 lead into the second quarter. Ahnera Parker finished a layup in the paint after getting the offensive rebound to beat the buzzer.
 
Bink Redman would give Lock Haven its largest lead of the contest with 8:40 left in the quarter as her layup made it 20-15. The Warriors rallied to trim the deficit as junior Kiersten Librizzi hit a jumper to make it 20-17. Senior Jordan Hertz would eventually give ESU a 21-20 lead with 6:04 left on the clock.
 
Librizzi drained a 3-pointer with 3:36 left in the half to put ESU up 28-24 over the Bald Eagles as the Warriors looked to take a lead into the break. Cresswell hit a jumper to put the Warriors up four before Lock Haven closed the half with a 4-0 run to knot the score 30-30.
 
ESU would lead by as many as six points in the third quarter as Kutz finished a layup in the paint off an assist from redshirt sophomore Cassie Ksiazek. Trailing 42-36 with just over two minutes left in the quarter, Lock Haven rallied to cut into the deficit as Leidy hit a pair of free throws to make it 42-40. Both sides would add to their point totals at the charity stripe to close the quarter as ESU went 2-of-2, while Lock Haven went 1-of-2.
 
ESU would finally be able to get some breathing room on the scoreboard in the fourth quarter as Lapotsky finished an early layup to make it 46-41. The Warriors would extend their lead to eight as Creswell hit a trey to put ESU up 49-41. Consecutive layups from Lapotsky gave ESU its first double-digit lead of the night as she made it 53-41 with 6:48 left in the contest.
 
The Warriors lead stretched to 15 as Kutz made it 56-41 before Lock Haven tallied its lone point of the quarter at the free-throw line to end ESU's rally. Kutz closed the scoring in the contest as her layup with 1:13 left made it 58-42 and secured the eventual 16-point victory for the Warriors.
 
ESU forced Lock Haven into 19 turnovers in the contest and tallied 20 points off those miscues, while the Warriors turned the ball over just seven times. The Warriors finished the game 5-of-15 from downtown and 9-of-10 at the charity stripe. ESU travels to Shippensburg on Saturday for a battle of the top two teams in the East beginning at 1 p.m.