ERIE, Pa. - The Mercyhurst women's basketball team shot just 32.1% from the floor and allowed the visiting Gannon University to shoot at a 49% clip in order to knock off the host Lakers by a score of 61-46 on Saturday night at the Mercyhurst Athletic Center in the first round of the Porreco Pride of Erie Cup.
Gannon jumped out to an early 8-0 lead in the opening 2:39 on buckets by Boston McKinney, Haley Tewes, and Tori Obenrader. A layup for
Amber Renz along with a three from
Lauren Lapertosa brought the margin to 8-5, but a 9-0 charge by the Lady Knights extended the lead to 17-5. Renz would bury a triple with 1:37 to go for the final Lakers basket of the frame as they trailed 21-8 after 10-minutes.
The visitors continued to assert themselves with their second 9-0 push to make it 30-8 at the 3:14 mark. A jumper for
Kori Sidwell and a layup by Lapertosa trimmed it to 30-12, before five consecutive Lady Knights points.
Emily Shopene and Renz closed the half for the Lakers on a 6-1 run but still left the hosts down 36-18 at half.
Mercyhurst tried to work themselves back into the game with Renz, Sidwell, and Lapertosa completing a 7-2 run to cut the deficit to 38-25 with 6:43 to go. Gannon closed the third on an 11-5 stretch to extend the margin to 49-30 through 30-minutes.
Back-to-back triples out of the hands of Shopene made it 53-36. However, Gannon got the ensuing six points to open it out to 59-36 with just under 2:30 to play.
Nicolete Newman,
Rachel Chessar, and
Stephanie Petery picked up the rest of the Lakers points thanks to three triples and a foul shot for the 61-46 final.
Mercyhurst shot 38.5% from deep to Gannon's 27.3%, while the Lady Knights were 10-13 on the line to the Lakers 2-6. The visitors carried play in the paint outscoring the hosts 36-14.
Shopene led the Lakers with 10 points, followed by nine each for Newman and Renz. Lapertosa added seven and Sidwell chipped in five. Shopene had five rebounds to lead the team.
Four Lady Knights hit double-figures led by Obenrader who was named Player of the Game after posting a double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds. McKinney and Tewes had 11 apiece and Chelsea Rourke finished with 10.
The Lakers return to action on Wednesday, January 22 when they welcome the Rock of Slippery Rock to the Mercyhurst Athletic Center for a 5:30 pm tip.
