Erie, Pa. – Mercyhurst Women's Basketball plays their last two nonconference games this week against Salem University and Lake Erie College. The Lakers host Salem University this Thursday at 5:00 p.m. Later that weekend, on Saturday, December 10th, the Lakers travel to Painesville, Oh. to take on the Lake Erie Storm at 1:00 p.m.
Last Weekend
Last weekend the Lakers faced two opponents in their first PSAC games. On Friday, the Lakers fell to West Chester University by a score of 79-67. The Lakers went down early to the Golden Rams as West Chester had a lead of 10-2 in the beginning of the game until the Lakers eventually tied the score at 15-15. Later, West Chester went on a scoring run to take control of the game.
The Lakers turned the weekend around with a win against Millersville on Saturday. The Lakers started the game slow, allowing the Marauders to gain a ten-point lead in the first, but the Lakers slowly worked their way out of the hole. Julia Buchman tied the game in the second, but by half the Lakers were only losing by one point. Mercyhurst pulled away in the fourth with a layup from Buchman and a three-pointer from Paige Woodford.
Laker Stats
In the pair of games last weekend, the Lakers scored 36 points off of turnovers. The Lakers have talent throughout the team as they also had 77 points come from the bench. Jayde Boyd scored 29 points to lead the team for the most for the weekend. Buchman scored 28 points just behind Boyd while Grace Centrulla scored 18 points while Ava Waid scored 17 points this past weekend.
Scouting the Salem Tigers
In the Tiger's last game against West Virginia Wesleyan, they scored the majority of their points in the second quarter. In most of their games, they come out slow and don't score many points in the first quarter as they average 15.8 points in the opening canto. Nerea Arambarri Fernandez and Elena Pericic have consistently been their top scorers. Last year, Mercyhurst faced the Tigers and won 72-61. The Lakers have never lost to Salem University, winning each of the previous three matchups by double-digits.
Scouting the Lake Erie Storm
The starters of Lake Erie score most of their points. In their last game against Cedarville, Abby Matalavage and Aislyn Hurst were their top scorers. They tend to come out strong, but they struggle with putting points up in the second quarter. The last time Mercyhurst played the Storm was in 2013, and the Lakers only lost by two points which is Mercyhurst's only loss in the series as they hold a 2-1 record against their counterparts.
What's Next
The Lakers host two more PSAC opponents next weekend. Mercyhurst plays Shippensburg on Sunday, December 18th, at 1:00 p.m. and then play Lock Haven University on Monday, December 19th, at 1:00 p.m.
