ERIE, Pa. – The Mercyhurst women's basketball team fell to cross-town rival Gannon,75-59, in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference action on Saturday. The Lady Knights secured the Porreco Pride of Erie Cup for the second straight game. Maggie Mitchell was awarded the game changer award for leading Gannon with 25 points.
Maria Lapertosa led Mercyhurst (9-17, 7-13) with 16 points and six assists.
Eliza Oswalt and
Kori Sidwell added 13 points apiece.
Gannon was led by Maggie Mitchell, who had 25 points, eight assists and a pair of steals. Mitchell was given the Porrece Pride of Erie Game Changer Award.
Nicole LaCava added 15 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists for Gannon (14-12, 11-9) while Lauren Tewes contributed nine points and seven rebounds.
The teams traded 3-pointers to start -- Mitchell hit a trey and Merchurst's
Eliza Oswalt answered with a three -- before the visiting Knights went on a 6-0 run and held the lead for the rest of the game.
Gannon led by as many as 12 points in the first half and took a 31-20 advantage into halftime. During the second half, the Knights pushed their lead to 22 before Mercyhurst closed the gap to to 11 points with a 14-3 run.
Lapertosa had six points, Sidwell put in five and
Rachel Chessar buried a 3 as MU shrank the margin to 67-56 with 3:20 to go, but that was as close as the hosts got.
Gannon outrebounded Mercyhurst, 36-20, while the Laker bench outscored that of Gannon's, 38-14. MU was 21 of 53 from the field (39.6 percent) while Gannon went 27 of 49 (55.1).
The Lakers will play next on Wednesday when they host Pittsburgh-Johnstown for a 5:30 p.m. tip-off in the final home game of the season
