Box Score (New/Sortable Format) EDINBORO, Pa. (November 25, 2013) – The Edinboro women's basketball team could not complete a third straight comeback, losing its first game of the year 59-58 to Winston-Salem State. The Fighting Scots particularly struggled in the paint, being outscored 40-18 by the Lady Rams while Amanda Hairston led the game with 18 points. The loss puts the Fighting Scots at 2-1 on the year while the Lady Rams improve to 3-2.

"I think we got exploited in a lot of different ways," Edinboro head coach Stan Swank said on his team's performance. "We went from down at (Pitt-Johnstown) turning the ball over seven times in the game to turning it over 21 today. That is a tribute to them; they are a lot quicker and create a lot of problems. We had to think a lot more and made some poor decisions."

Edinboro trailed once again at halftime, 32-21 in this contest after Winston-Salem State shot 53.8 percent from the field in the first half. Trailing by 42-34 with 12:44 remaining in the game, the Fighting Scots pieced together a 15-3 run. Valerie Majewski scored 10 points during the run to give the Scots their largest lead of the ball game, 49-45 with 7:59 left. Winston-Salem State tied the game with 3:27 to go at 52-52. The two teams proceeded to exchange the lead for the remainder of the game.

With 39 seconds remaining, Laurel Lindsay fed Aignee' Freeland inside to take a 58-57 lead. At the other end after a Winston-Salem State timeout, Freeland blocked Jasmine Elum's subsequent shot attempt out of bounds. The Lady Rams then went to Hairston who hit a lay-up to go ahead 59-58. Majewski then got off a contested lay-up at the other end that did not drop. Winston-Salem State recovered the rebound and took a timeout. On the following in-bounds, Majewski stole the in-bounds pass near half-court and launched a shot from there that fell short, ending the game.

Lindsay led Edinboro in points, rebounds, and assists. She had a strong first half in which she scored 11 points to go along with five rebounds, three assists, two steals, one block. She would finish the game with 17 points, tying her career-high which came against Bloomsburg in the PSAC semifinal last year, seven rebounds, and five assists, making it the sixth straight game she has scored at least nine points.

"Laurel came on towards the end of last year," Swank said on his junior guard's performance. "She is doing a great job. She is kind of back to the old Laurel that I knew her freshman year and she is playing fine."

Majewski had a career-high six steals in the game to go along with 15 points and six rebounds. She has scored at least 15 points in all three of her games in an Edinboro uniform. Lindsay and Majewski each nearly played the whole game as well, with Lindsay playing 39 minutes and Majewski 38 minutes. Freeland had just five points and four rebounds following back-to-back double-doubles. The Fighting Scots received a key bench performance from freshman Whitney Allen who posted a career-high 19 minutes and six rebounds. In her third career start, Hope Mancini once again eclipsed double-digit points, her third straight game doing so as she finished with 11 points.

For the Lady Rams, Hairston led the way with 18 points and also contributed six rebounds. Hairston was seven of 11 from the floor and the only other starter for the Lady Rams to make 50 percent of her shots was Jovonah Graham, who had eight points on four-for-eight shooting in just 17 minutes. Raven Fields was the leading rebounder for Winston-Salem State, finishing with 10 points and seven rebounds.
After committing just 25 turnovers in the first two games, the Fighting Scots turned it over 21 times that the Lady Rams turned into 24 points. The score was tied five times in the second half alone with the leading changing hands on four occasions. In the second half, the Lady Rams only shot 36 percent from the field and were zero-for-six from the three-point line, which keyed the Fighting Scots second half rally.

"The more we go, the more we figure out weaknesses and strengths and things we have to approve on," said Swank. "Although we lost, we try to learn from it and pick-up what we need to work on."

The Fighting Scots will have eight days off before hosting Seton Hill on December 4 for their next game. The tip-off is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. in the first game of a doubleheader.