Shippensburg University’s women’s basketball team took on the Holy Family Tigers on Saturday at Heiges Field House, starting off with speed in the first quarter.

Senior Abbie Miller scored the first four points for the Raiders in the first three minutes of the match. The Tigers were quick to join the scoreboard, making it 9-8 in their favor in the first six minutes of the quarter. The second quarter began with the Raiders ahead 13-11 until a three-pointer was made by Holy Family to separate them with a lead of five. 

Halfway through the quarter, the score was tied at 18 until the Tigers began attacking on high alert, sinking several shots to finish the half with a lead of 26-18. With such a long period with no points for the Raiders, they had to step up their game after halftime. 

Holy Family did not let the Raiders fly by, scoring seven points in the first two minutes of the third quarter by finishing a streak of two layups with a three-pointer. The Tigers continued to press while the score remained unchanged at 38-24 for several minutes. The Raiders gained some momentum with Alexis Buie throwing up a shot while getting fouled, making the layup and free throw to add to 29 points for SU.

The third quarter continued and the Raiders closed the gap to trail by just nine points. With a score of 42-33 and only one quarter left, the Raiders needed to make use of their last 10 minutes of play. The Tigers did not let them strike easily, scoring seven points in the first three minutes of the quarter while simultaneously holding a strong defense against the Raiders offense, holding them scoreless for a spurt of time. The lack in pushback from the Raiders was detrimental to their success as the Tigers continued to prevail in their attacks. 

With only five minutes left, Holy Family led with 55 points to the Raiders 33. After breaking their scoreless streak, the Raiders made their way up to 40 points to compete with the Tigers. 

A timeout was called with just a minute left in the game and the Tigers had possession when play resumed. They were able to put up a shot for another two points on the scoreboard and finished out the match with an impressive score of 63-42. 

Buie performed a perfect six for six at the line, leading the Raiders in individual points with 16 points. Mia Johnson scored 11 points, Abbie Miller scored eight points, and Bella Chimienti scored four points. 

“We still have a lot to learn and grow on but I think we did some really good things at times so now it’s just a matter of finding the consistency to do those things for all four quarters,” Buie said.

“As a team we struggle with consistency and that was evident in the second and fourth quarter when we struggled to score,” Miller said. “Unfortunately, with an experienced team like Holy Family we just couldn’t overcome that deficit after we went down. The good news is that we’re learning about our identity and capabilities as a team every game and identifying areas of weakness to try and patch them up before our next competition.”

The Raiders play away at IUP on Friday at 3 p.m. and at Seton Hill on Saturday at 1 p.m.  

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