UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS, OH – The Mercyhurst women's basketball team went on to defeat Ursuline College, 66-56, Saturday night at John Carroll University.
Angela Heintz led all scorers coming off the bench with 12 points and
Jessica Bell grabbed a team high ten rebounds. With the win, the Lakers have won five of their last six contests, improving to 8-12 overall. Ursuline falls to 3-16.
The Arrows would take an early lead, until
Adrienne Kloecker made one of her two threes before the first media break to take a 6-4 advantage. Ursuline would answer, tying the game at 10 with just over eleven to play off a Kylie Owac jumper in the paint. Heintz would give the Lakers a spark on the next possession, draining a three to start of a 15-2 run to open up the largest lead of the game at 13, 25-12. Mercyhurst would extend its lead to as many as 15 before taking a 34-21 lead into the break. The Laker's bench outscored the Arrows 19-4 during the period.
Natalie Piaggesi came out of the locker room hot, scoring the first three baskets to open up the half as the Lakers built a 26 point advantage, the largest lead of the night. The bench also continued to produce with freshman
Katie Heckman making back-to-back baskets during the span. Heckman finished shooting 3-4 from the floor, scored seven points and grabbed nine rebounds, all career-highs. Mercyhurst's defense would help open the game up for good, holding the arrows to only four points the first 8:41 of the half.
Despite opening up a large lead, Ursuline would not go down without a fight, pulling the game back within single digits (9) with 22 seconds to play. Ursuline would go onto outscore the Lakers in the second half with their late efforts, 35-32, but Mercyhurst would ultimately come out on top by double digits.
The Laker defense went on to hold Ursuline to just 25.0% shooting (16-64) and 15.8% from behind the arc (3-19). Mercyhurst would finish shooting 40.4% (23-57) and dominated the Arrows on the glass, 50-38. The 50 rebounds is a season high, after the Lakers pulled down 44 in a win over Mansfield earlier this month.Mercyhurst will head back into Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Western Division play Wednesday at the Mercyhurst Athletic Center when they take on #24 California (Pa.). Tipoff is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.
