Box Score (New/Sortable Format) ERIE, Pa. (January 15, 2014) - The Edinboro women's basketball team won its sixth straight game on Wednesday evening, handing Mercyhurst an 80-69 defeat. The victory improved the Fighting Scots record to 11-3 and 5-0 in the PSAC West while Mercyhurst fell to 4-11 and 2-3 in conference.

Laurel Lindsay and Aignee' Freeland each had big second half's for Edinboro. Lindsay finished with 14 second-half points and Freeland added 12. Lindsay would finish with a career-high 20 points, topping her previous career-high of 19 set this past Saturday against Slippery Rock.

Edinboro would take the lead for good midway through the first half, erasing a 13-10 Lakers' advantage with 14:43 remaining in the first half. The Fighting Scots would go on a 9-2 run fueled by three Darche' Jackson jumpers.  That established a 19-15 lead with 8:53 left in the first half.

The Fighting Scots would go up by as many as nine points in the first half before Adrienne Kloecker caught fire. The Mercyhurst guard scored the final 10 points of the half for the Lakers and would tie the game up at 33 with 47 seconds remaining in the half. Nicole Johnson's lay-up with 31 seconds remaining gave the Scots a 35-33 halftime lead.

Edinboro would begin the second half with an early 17-4 run to extend the lead to 52-37 with 12:54 to play. Lindsay led the Scots with six points on the run and was assisted by five points from Valerie Majewski and four from Freeland.

The Scots would grab their largest lead of the game at 60-42 with just over 10 minutes remaining before a 9-2 Lakers cut the lead to 62-51.  Edinboro would hit six straight free throws to end the run, with Lindsay, Jackson and Morgyn Patterson all canning a pair. The Lakers would never pull closer than ten points the rest of the way.

The Edinboro starters combined for 68 points on the night. Lindsay's 20 points came on an 8-for-13 shooting effort, plus 4-for-4 from the line.  Valerie Majewski added 15 points, snapping a strong of five straight games in which she led the team in scoring. Freeland finished with 14 points, five rebounds, and three steals. Jackson also scored 14 points, with ten coming in the first half.  She added four steals and three assists.
Morgyn Patterson turned in a strong effort, as the senior forward finished with five points, three rebounds, four assists, and four steals.
For Mercyhurst, Kloecker finished with 24 points, with 19 of those in the first half. The Lakers leading scorer and rebounder, Alayna White, was held to six points and seven rebounds.

The Fighting Scots improved to 10-0 on the year when committing fewer turnovers than the other team, as they forced 18 Mercyhurst turnovers and only committed eight turnovers. The Scots took advantage of these turnovers, outscoring the Lakers 20-3 off turnovers.  Edinboro committed just two turnovers in the second half, both coming late in the game.

Edinboro shot 50.8 percent from the floor (30 of 59) and made 18 of 25 free throws.  Mercyhurst came in at 44.2 percent from the floor (23 of 52) and was a near-perfect 17 of 19 from the line. The Fighting Scots dominated in the paint, scoring 50 points compared to 28 for Mercyhurst.

The Fighting Scots returns to action on Saturday, January 18 in a showdown for first place in the PSAC West. Undefeated Gannon visits McComb Fieldhouse, with tipoff set for 1 p.m.   Gannon is the No. 2 ranked team in NCAA Division II and has begun the season 17-0 and 6-0 in the PSAC West.