Shippensburg University’s women’s basketball team faced two challenging conference opponents this past week at home.  

Thursday evening, SU battled Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) East’s current first place team, Lock Haven. The Bald Eagles defeated the Raiders 81-50 to claim their seventh straight win. 

The Bald Eagles scored 36 points in the paint and 18 off the bench. The Raiders scored a solid 22 points in the paint and 12 off the bench. SU also had 10 second-chance points while Lock Haven only had seven. 

The Raiders’ top scorer against the Bald Eagles was sophomore Abbie Johns with 13 points. The only other Raider to reach double-digit points on Thursday was sophomore Michelle Olak with 10. 

Lock Haven had four players earn double-digit points, with junior Madeline Evans leading their scoring with 19. Their offense found success in free throws making 13 out of 18 attempts for an overall 72.2 percent. 

Saturday afternoon, SU lost in another home PSAC East matchup. Bloomsburg won 63-51 in a closer contest than their earlier meeting this season. At the start of January, the Raiders traveled to Bloomsburg and lost by 31 points with a score of 45-76. 

Saturday’s contest started with back-and-forth action, as the first quarter ended in a 14-14 tie. 

Halfway through the second quarter, BU began to pull ahead . The Huskies scored 14 points in that quarter, compared to seven from the Raiders. The closest SU came to coming back was in the third quarter, when they were only down by three after a layup from Johns, making the score 41-38. 

In the third quarter, SU outscored BU 17-15. However, the Huskies posted seven more points than the Raiders again, earning 20 points while the Raiders scored 13. 

Olak scored 14 points for the Raiders, marking her seventh game in a row with double digits. Freshman Melana Eyer also aided the team’s offense with 12 points, eight of which came in the first quarter. 

The Huskies capitalized on their free throw attempts, making 27 out of 30, or 90%. The Raiders had a free-throw percentage of 66.7%, or 10 out of 15. SU also scored 26 points in the paint, 17 points off turnovers and eight fast-break points. 

This week, Shippensburg is scheduled to travel to Millersville on Wednesday and face West Chester at home in Heiges Field House on Saturday at 1 p.m. 

Share