ERIE, Pa. (January 10, 2015) – The Edinboro women's basketball team battled back after trailing by as much as 20 points in the second half but could not overcome Gannon on Saturday night ultimately losing 76-70 at the Hammermill Center. The Fighting Scots lost for the first time in their last nine games as their record falls to 11-4 overall and 8-3 in the PSAC West. The Lady Knights were led by Nettie Blake's 28 points and 18 rebounds as they won for the first time in the last five games of this series. Gannon's record improves to 10-4 and 9-2 in conference.

Laurel Lindsay scored 12 points in the game to reach 1,001 career points. She is the 29^th player in school history to achieve this feat.
 

Edinboro fell behind early and struggled to keep the game close in the first half. The Lady Knights stormed out of the gates to take an 11-3 lead going into the first media timeout with 15:30 left in the first half. Gannon shot 5-for-6 in that period while Edinboro went over five minutes without a made field goal following Lauren Hippo's layout 16 seconds into the contest.

Gannon led by five points with 6:59 remaining. The Lady Knights scored seven unanswered points that was capped off by a 3-pointer by McKenna Shives. Gannon led 25-13 with 5:28 to
play.

Shortly thereafter Hippo cut the Scots deficit to six points with a 3-pointer and two made free throws within 30 seconds of one another. Edinboro trailed 29-23 with 2:32 left.

The Lady Knights would score the last six points of the half to increase their lead to 37-24 at halftime. Edinboro took three 3-point attempts in the final two minutes without making one of them.

Blake paced all players with 13 points at the break as Gannon held a 24-12 advantage in the paint. The Lady Knights shot 14-for-31 (45.2 percent) from the floor in the opening frame.
Hippo led Edinboro with 13 points at the break. The Fighting Scots shot 9-for-26 (34.6 percent) from the field and 2-for-10 (20.0 percent) on 3-pointers.

Gannon carried over its strong first half play into the beginning of the second half. Amanda Berchtold scored on a layup 50 seconds in the second half and following a Nicole Johnson made free throw for Edinboro, the Lady Knights scored six unanswered points to establish their largest lead of the game 45-25 with 17:02 remaining.

The Fighting Scots would begin chipping away at the lead at this point. Edinboro pieced together a 7-0 run in under two minutes with five points coming from Lindsay. Gannon lead 45-32 with 15:08 to play.

Edinboro began to see the benefits of the free throw line when it brought the game to within single digits. Starting with a pair of free throws from Lindsay at the 10:39 mark, Valerie Majewski and Hope Mancini would each add two made free throws. Mancini's pair of free throws at the 9:05 mark brought the score to 58-49 in favor of Gannon. Edinboro would not trail by more than nine points the rest of the game.

The Fighting Scots made their charge with 5:11 showing on the clock. Hippo made one of two on a trip to the charity stripe and Aignee' Freeland scored shortly after. Trailing 62-56 with 4:14 remaining, Mancini would steal the ball from Berchtold at halfcourt and was fouled on the play. Gannon also received a technical foul on the play and Hippo made both free throw attempts following the technical. Mancini then proceeded to the line to take her free throw attempts and made one of two. Edinboro now trailed by just a single possession, 62-59 with 4:14 to play.

The two teams would trade a free throw a piece before Blake scored with 3:11 remaining to extend the Gannon lead to 65-60. The Fighting Scots were able to take three 3-point attempts the following time down the court due to two offensive rebounds, but were unable to capitalize on the extra chances.

Blake made both free throws on the other end following a foul on Hippo. Mancini followed that with the Scots first made 3-pointer in nearly nine and a half minutes to keep Edinboro in the game, down 67-63 with 2:19 left.

Brittany Batts made only two shots in the game but her final shot was the nail in the coffin for the Fighting Scots. Following Mancini's 3-pointer, Batts delivered the dagger on a 3-point attempt to give Gannon a 70-63 lead with 1:50 remaining. After a missed shot by Hippo and turnover by Lindsay, Blake scored with 57 seconds left to make it 72-63.

The Fighting Scots finished the game shooting 21-for-60 (35.0 percent) from the field and 7-for-27 (25.9 percent) on 3-pointers. Edinboro entered the game first in the nation 3-point percentage connecting on 43.4 percent of its 3-point attempts. The Fighting Scots went 21-for-33 (63.6 percent) from the free throw line.

Gannon shots 27-for-57 (47.4 percent) from the floor and 5-for-15 (33.3 percent) from beyond the arc. The Lady Knights held a significant rebound advantage over Edinboro 45-34.

Hippo led the Fighting Scots with 21 points on 6-for-13 shooting, 3-for-9 on 3-pointers, and 6-for-9 at the free throw line. It was the seventh straight game the junior guard has scored in double figures and just the second time in the past two seasons Edinboro has lost when she has scored 10 or more points.

Lindsay led all players with seven assists. In addition to becoming the 29^th player in Edinboro history to score 1,000 career points, the graduate student guard/forward became just the 10^th active player to reach that mark.

Mancini provided a spark off the Edinboro bench with 17 points. The graduate student guard shot 4-for-12 from the field, 3-for-9 on 3-pointers, and 6-for-9 from the charity stripe.
Majewski led the Fighting Scots with eight rebounds and added four assists on seven points.

Blake finished 11-for-14 on field goal attempts and 6-for-8 at the free throw line. Six of her 18 rebounds were offensive rebounds and she added three blocks.

Mollie Sebald was the only other Lady Knight to score in double figures. She shot 3-for-8 from the floor, 1-for-3 on 3-pointers, and 6-for-9 on free throws on her way to 13 points. The senior guard scored the last four points of the game for Gannon.

This was the first time in the last five meetings and just the second time in the last 11 games between the two teams that Gannon has won. The Lady Knights take over third place in the PSAC West while the Fighting Scots fall into fourth.

Edinboro's schedule does not get any easier as its next game is on the road at Indiana (Pa.). The Vulcans entered Saturday 13-0 but lost to California (Pa.) 73-68 in overtime. The Fighting Scots and IUP will tip-off at 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday, January 14