ROCHESTER, N.Y. - Coming off their first setback of the season the Mercyhurst women's basketball team got right back on track Tuesday night by downing Roberts Wesleyan College by a score of 55-42 at the Voller Athletic Center.  Leading the way for the Lakers were Nicolette Arnold who had a career-high 15 points, while Grace Centrulla posted her second double-double with 14 points and 10 boards.

Arnold got the visitors going with a layup at the 1:35 mark, before Julia Buchman made it 5-0, 1:10 later.  It took 3:55 before the home team hit the scoreboard as Dimitra Gkizani converted a layup.  The two sides shared the next eight points, before Meghan Komendarek and Emma McDermott helped the Lakers outscore the Redhawks 4-2 to lead 13-8 through one.  

Mercyhurst came out of the gates strong to begin the second with Emily Shopene, Komendarek and Centrulla leading to a 6-0 charge and a 19-8 advantage.  After, five consecutive RWC points cut the margin to 19-13, Arnold picked up six of the next ten points uping the edge to 25-17 with 69-seconds left.  Paige Woodford split a pair at the stripe and Gkizani hit two sendiing the game to the break at 26-19.  

The Redhawks began the third on a 6-2 run making it 28-25.  However, that was answered by Centrulla and Arnold stretching the lead 35-27 with 4:35 to go.  The scoring dried up for the Lakers through the rest of the period as Paige McCormick and Ashlynn McKnight converted the final two buckets as the game headed to the fourth with the Lakers holding a four-point edge at 35-31.

Shopene and Komendarek helped the visitors to outscore the Redhawks 5-4 over a 4:08-span to maintain a slim 40-35 edge.  The lead stayed at five past the halfway point of the quarter, but then the Lakers went to work with Centrulla netting seven-straight points to open up a sizable 49-37 cushion with 1:43 to play.  The rest of the contest was play on the foul line with nine of the final 11 points between the two sides being scored at the charity line which did not allow RWC to close the gap as Mercyhurst secured the 55-42 win.  

Team Stat Pack
Field Goal % - Hurst, 35.2% (19-54) / RWC, 26.9% (18-67)
Three Point % - Hurst, 16.7% (3-18) / RWC, 5.9% (1-17)
Foul Shooting % - Hurst, 66.7% (14-21) / RWC, 71.4% (5-7)
Rebounds - Hurst, 51 / RWC, 34
Points in Paint - Hurst, 28 / RWC, 28 
Turnovers - Hurst, 23 / RWC, 18 
Blocks - Hurst, 8 / RWC, 0

Mercyhurst Individual Stats
Points - Arnold (15), Centrulla (14), Komendarek (9), Shopene (5), Boyd (4)
Rebounds - Centrulla (10), Arnold (9), Komendarek (8)
Assists - Boyd and Shopene (3)
Blocks - Centrulla (4)

Roberts Wesleyan Individual Stats
Points - Gkizani (12), McKnight (10)
Rebounds - Gkizani (7)

On Deck
The Lakers will be back at the Mercyhurst Athletic Center on Friday, January 22th when they welcome Kentucky State University at 1pm.