Boxscore

ASHLAND, Ohio – The Mercyhurst College women's basketball team fell for the just the second time this season, dropping a 75-63 back-and-forth battle with Ashland University at the Ashland Holiday Inn Express Classic. 

The Lakers move to 1-2 on the year while the Eagles improve to 2-0 on the season. 

Junior forward Amy Achesinski led the Lakers with a game-high 25 points while contributing a career-best 17 rebounds. Achesinski was 7-of-11 from the floor and 11-of-12 from the charity stripe as she was a catalyst for Mercyhurst in the first half, helping the Lakers during two pivotal runs that allowed the Lakers to take a 36-33 lead into intermission. 

Achesinski surpassed her previous career best of 16 rebounds set at Mansfield on Nov. 15, 2007.
Also finishing in double figures for the Lakers was junior guard Samantha Loadman. She recorded 17 points on 6-of-15 from the floor, including 5-of-11 from behind the arc, while adding five boards and three helpers. 

In the first half, the Eagles jumped out to a quick 5-0 lead, and then stretched their advantage to 11-3 with 13:21 left to play. However, in the next four minutes Mercyhurst put together a 13-4 run fueled by three 3-pointers from Loadman to take a 16-15 lead, the Lakers first of the game with just over half the opening stanza expired. 

Ashland would battle back, going on a 13-5 run of its own in the next five minutes behind six points from Rachel Poorman before Mercyhurst would again mount a charge of its own. This time the Lakers rallied from a 28-21 deficit with 4:43 remaining as Achesinski and Megan Hoffman combined for six tallies each. 

Achesinski started the scoring rally, sinking two free throws before recording a layup. Hoffman then added a 3-pointer to cut the deficit to 33-28 with three minutes left to play. From there, the Lakers played strong defensively, holding the Eagles without a basket in their next possession to set up another Hoffman 3-pointer to knot the game at 33-33. 

Achesinski posted another layup with 58 seconds left in the opening half and completed the old-fashioned 3-point play after the bucket to give the Lakers the lead heading into halftime. 

The Lakers held their halftime lead until 13:51 in the second half when a layup by the Eagles Elizabeth Taylor gave Ashland its first lead of the stanza. From there, the Lakers Kaylee Foster layup at 12:46 knotted the game for the fifth time before Achesinski added two free throws to give the Lakers a 47-49 lead with 11:58 to play. 

The Eagles clawed back, a recurrent theme in the game for both teams, when Beth Mantkowski recorded a jumper at 11:16 to tie the game for the seventh time, and then took advantage of a deep bench and 16 second-half turnovers by the Lakers to record a 12-2 run and break open what had been a close game. 

From there, the Eagles used a steady offensive production to stretch their lead to as many as 19 while the Lakers found themselves in a cold spell from the floor for nearly the remainder of the contest.
Ashland outscored Mercyhurst 42-27 in the second half thanks to a 22-2 advantage in bench points while converting 13 tallies off Laker turnovers. 

For the Eagles, Elizabeth Tyler led four Eagles in double-figures with 20 points and three blocks. 

Next up for the Lakers is a 1 p.m. contest against Northwood in the second game of the Ashland Holiday Inn Express Classic on Sunday.