(Posted January 8, 2011)

HUNTINGDON, Pa. -- Juniata College women's basketball scored the first 15 points of the second half and coasted to a 60-33 Landmark Conference win over Goucher College, Saturday afternoon at the Kennedy Sports + Recreation Center.

Trailing 23-22 at the break, Juniata (9-5, 2-1 Landmark) took the lead just over a minute into the second half on an Ashton Bankos (York, Pa./York Catholic) three-point bucket.

That spurred the Eagles to continue the run all the way to the 15:30 mark, when a pair of Jordan Hileman (Williamsburg, Pa./Williamsburg) foul shots capped the surge with Juniata holding a 37-23 lead.

A pair of Shante Atkinson foul shots with 15:24 showing broke Juniata's run, briefly cutting the Eagle lead to 12 points. An Erin McGinley (Ashland, Pa./Tri-Valley) layup two minutes later extended Juniata's lead, as did a Bankos trey at the 11:30 mark to make the score 42-25 in the Eagles' favor.

Goucher's Elizabeth von Ende drained a jumper with 9:59 remaining for Goucher's first basket of the half - and one of only three the Gophers would make in the second stanza.

Juniata's lead touched 30 points at 58-28 following a pair of free throws by Kate McDonald (Pennsylvania Furnace, Pa./State College Area). Taquasia Lambert's layup and an Amy Smith three-pointer in the final three minutes took a small chunk out of Juniata's sizable lead, however Jen Hnatuck (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Trinity) connected on a jumper in the waning seconds to make the final margin 27 points in the Eagles' favor.

Hnatuck led the Eagles with 16 points behind 6-of-11 shooting from the field and a 4-of-5 mark at the free-throw line. Hileman chipped in with nine points while dishing out five assists, with Bankos finishing with eight points and four assists. McDonald hauled in 12 rebounds to lead Juniata on the boards, and tacked on six points.

The win also gave Juniata head coach Danny Young-Uhrich her 100th career coaching victory. Young-Uhrich, in her eighth season at the helm of Eagle women's basketball, needs two more victories to surpass Nancy Latimore (1977-86) for most coaching wins by any Juniata women's basketball coach.

Juniata shot 37.7 percent (23-61) for the game, including a 13-of-27 (.481) mark in the second half. Defensively, the Eagles held Goucher to 24.6 percent shooting for the game and a mere .111 (3-27) field goal percentage in the second half.

The Eagles also outrebounded the Gophers, 50-35, and forced Goucher into 20 turnovers leading to 22 Juniata points.

Lambert was the only Goucher player to crack double digit scoring with 10 points, while Von Ende tallied eight. Hannah Brown grabbed a team-high eight rebounds for the Gophers.

Juniata takes to the road next weekend, beginning with a matchup against the University of Scranton on Friday, Jan. 21, in Scranton, Pa. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.

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Contact April Feagley at feaglea@juniata.edu or (814) 641-3131 for more information.