ERIE – Redshirt junior Cassie Ksiazek recorded career-highs in points and rebounds, but it wasn't enough as the East Stroudsburg University women's basketball team fell to Mercyhurst, 56-46, on Sunday afternoon on Owen McCormick Court.
The Warriors drop to 0-7 overall and 0-5 in conference play while the Lakers won their fourth-straight game to move to 5-6 overall and 3-2 in the PSAC.
Notables
- Ksiazek put together her second-straight strong performance with career-highs in points (15) and rebounds (6) to go along with two blocks
- Ryan Weise was the next highest Warriors' scorer with eight points, three rebounds and four assists
- Freshman Corrin Gill stuffed the stat sheet with five points, five rebounds, four assists and two steals
- Leah Pishock and Izzy Vogel each scored five points
- ESU finished 17-of-56 (30.4) from the floor, were 4-of-17 (23.5) from the three-point line and had a season-low in turnovers with 16
- Grace Centrulla paced the Lakers with 17 points, eight rebounds, two assists and two blocks. Julia Buchman added 13 points while Emily Shopene had nine points, six rebounds and four assists. Edinboro was 23-of-55 (41.8) from the floor and 4-of-19 (21.1) from the three-point line.
- The Warriors held the advantage from the charity strip, going 8-of-12 (66.7) while Mercyhurst finished 6-of-12 (50.0)
- In the fourth quarter, the teams combined to shoot 2-of-21 (9.5) from the field
How It Happened
- As the teams traded buckets to open the game, Mercyhurst used an 8-0 run to go ahead 12-4 before a layup from Ksiazek to snap a scoreless drought for ESU. Out of the media timeout, the Lakers outscored ESU 7-5 to take a 21-12 lead after the first 10 minutes.
- The second quarter began with poor shooting by each team as the Warriors got on the board first with a layup from Ksiazek at the 8:03 mark. Over the next three minutes, the Lakers edged ESU 5-4 to take a 26-16 lead into the media break. Mercyhurst and ESU would go on to score 11 and eight points respectively to head into halftime with the score at 37-26 in favor of the Lakers.
- Ksiazek began the second half with three straight points, but the Lakers used a 6-0 run to grab a 14-point lead with 6:38 remaining. From that point until the end of the quarter, the Warriors proceeded to outscore Mercyhurst 11-6 to trail by only nine points headed into the final 10 minutes.
- Neither team was able to score for over three minutes to begin the fourth quarter before a layup from the Lakers at the 6:57 mark pushed their advantage to 51-40. The Warriors finally got on the board after a three-pointer from Pishock with 3:23 left but a pair of free throws by the Lakers kept their lead at 10 points. The Warriors cut the lead to seven with 29 seconds remaining but Mercyhurst held on for the 56-46 victory.
Up Next
ESU is back at Koehler Fieldhouse on Thursday, December 30 for their final game of 2021 as Holy Family visits the Poconos for a 7 p.m. tip-off.
