ERIE, Pa. - The Mercyhurst women's basketball team will look to continue their push towards a potential PSAC Tournament birth when they go for the season sweep of Clarion University when they welcome the Golden Eagles to the Mercyhurst Athletic Center on Saturday afternoon. Prior to tipoff the Lakers will honor their five seniors
Stephanie Petery,
Lauren Lapertosa,
Nicolete Newman,
Kori Sidwell, and
Amber Renz.
Game Information
Opponent - Clarion University Golden Eagles
Date - Saturday, February 8
Time - 1 pm
Location - Erie, Pa. (Mercyhurst Athletic Center)
Series History - Hurst leads 26-23, (Lakers won last meeting 68-65 at Tippin Gymnasium on 1/8/20)
Lakers Notes
Tickets
Live Stats
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Last Meeting - LAKERS 68, Golden Eagles 65
Mercyhurst held a 19-15 lead after one and a 38-31 advantage as the teams went to the locker room. Coming out of the break Emily Hegedus, Jada Smith, and Celeste Ryman put together a 6-0 run to close the deficit to 42-40. They continued their strong play using an 8-0 charge later in the frame to help Clarion go ahead 50-47 through 30-minutes. The hosts held a 56-50 edge with eight minutes to play, but a 14-3 sprint by the headed up by the duo of
Emily Shopene and Lapertosa put the Lakers in front 64-59 and from there they would hang on to secure the 68-64 win. Mercyhurst had four players hit double-figures led by Renz with 12, followed by Shopene, Newman, and Petery who each added 11. Shopene capped off a double-double with a team-high 11 boards. Yasmin Massiah netted a team-high 19 for Clarion.
Last Time Out - LAKERS 70, Seton Hill 64 (2/5/20)
Seton Hill ran themselves out to a 39-25 lead at half thanks in part to runs of 6-0 and 11-2 during the course of the opening 20-minutes. With the Lakers down 45-34 in the third a 12-2 stampede led by six from Sidwell brought the visitors back to within just one 47-46 still with six minutes remaining. The score would be tied at 49-49, before Katie Nolan nudged the home team in front 51-49 after three. Renz was responsible for the first five points of the final frame to make it 54-53 Lakers and from that moment on the guest never trailed en route to the 70-64 triumph. Renz matched a career-high with 29 points and was joined in double-figures by a dozen from Shopene. Sidwell pulled in 10 boards.
Scouting the Lakers (6-16, 6-10 PSAC)
Team Numbers
Mercyhurst has allowed 70.2 ppg to their opponents, while only scoring 63 for a -7.2 scoring margin. The Lakers have had a slight improvement in their shooting percentage dropping from 41.6% to 41.9%. They also hold a 29.7% from beyond the arc and sit at 69.4% at the charity line. Mercyhurst has been better at holding onto the dropping their average under 17 per game to 16.5. As a unit they possess +1.4 rebound margin grabbing 35 giving up just 33.6. 42
NCAA Ranks
As a team Mercyhurst ranks inside the Top-100 nationally in assists (70th), blocked shots (49th), and blocked shots per game (62nd). Individually, Renz is 48th in the country and fourth in the PSAC shooting 54.4%. Shopene and Lapertosa rank 14th and 66th in minutes per game with 37.39 and 34.37 respectively. Shopene is second nationally in total minutes played at 822:32, while Lapertosa sits at 26th with 756:05. Shopene lands just inside the top 100 in assist-turnover ratio at 81st with 1.59.
Protect the Ball
The Lakers have done a nice job on trying to cut back on turnovers only giving it away 13 times against Seton Hill. Mercyhurst has now shrunk their turnover margin down to -3.0 averaging 16.5 per game allowing 16.7 ppg off of their turnovers, while converting their opponents 13.5 mistakes into 12.9 ppg.
Ball Hogs
Mercyhurst averages 6.5 steals per game and have totaled 142 on the campaign. The Lakers have four players with 20-plus for the year led by 33 from Lapertosa, followed by 23 for Shopene along with 21 each for Sidwell and Newman. Renz (11) and Buchman (10) also land in double-digits.
Crash the Boards
Mercyhurst is a +1.4 in rebound margin at 35 to 33.6. Lapertosa and Sidwell both average over five rebounds per game with 5.1 and 5.3. Renz and Shopene each average over four per game, with Newman just behind them at 3.7.
Balanced Scoring
Renz heads the attack dropping 16.1 ppg. With Shopene (9.7) and Newman (9.3) landing just off the double-digit pace, while the duo of Lapertosa along with
Eliza Oswalt combines for 15. Sidwell also chips in just over five per game.
Block Party
The Lakers season total now sits at 81 after two more on the road at Seton Hill Wednesday. They now average almost four a game (3.7). Lapertosa now paces the team with 19, while Renz and Komendarek each have 16. Sidwell and Shopene have combined for 15. Oswalt, Petery, Buchman, Newman, and
Vivian Allison have all recorded at least one.
Scouting the Golden Eagles (4-18, 2-14 PSAC)
Clarion arrives in Erie having dropped nine of the previous ten, including a 76-58 setback at Slippery Rock on Wednesday night in PSAC West play. The Golden Eagles are shooting at under a 40% clip knocking down 35.9% of their shots and sit at 26.9% beyond the arc, but are just a 57.6% foul shooting team. They hold a-11.7 scoring 57.6 ppg, while allowing 69.3 to their competition. Ke'Airah Massiah and Yasmin Lewis lead the Clarion attack with 9.8 and 9.0 points per game respectively. The group of Celeste Ryman, Yndiah Bobo, and Emily Hegedus all average over eight points. On the glass the combination of Jada Smith and Lewis combine for more than 14 rebounds, while Hegedus grabs just under five. Jana Ashley is in her sixth season leading the Golden Eagles nest.
Postseason Watch
Mercyhurst currently is on the outside looking in as far as the PSAC Playoffs are concerned, but they sit only one game back behind both Seton Hill and Pitt-Johnstown who occupy the final two spots both with a mark of 7-9 in conference.
On Deck - Quest for Revenge
The Lakers will look to regain control of the Pride of Erie Cup when they travel down State Street for a matchup with the archrival Gannon University Lady Knights at 5:30 pm inside the Hammermill Center on Wednesday night.
