Erie, Pa. – The Edinboro women's basketball team held the PSAC's second ranked offense to just 49 points as the Fighting Scots improved to 8-3 overall and 5-1 in PSAC West play with a 60-49 victory over host Mercyhurst Wednesday afternoon.
 
The Scots came into the contest leading the country in turnovers forced per game, but were only able to force 16 turnovers. Edinboro shut down the Laker offense holding them to 19-of-64 shooting from the floor including just 2-of-20 from beyond the arc well below Mercyhurst's average of nine triples per contest.
 
In the fourth quarter, Mercyhurst cut the Edinboro lead to 43-40 on a Grace Centrulla layup. Gillian Fisher extended the Fighting Scot lead with five straight points hitting a 3-pointer and then a layup to make it 48-40 with 7:38 to play.
 
The Lakers answered with a Paige Woodford layup, but Fisher hit another triple and Maura Suman made a driving layup to push the lead back to 53-42. Rana Elhusseini hit a pair of free throws completing a 7-0 run to make it 55-42 with 3:03 to play.
 
The lead would shrink to as low as eight, 57-49, but the Scots would hit three free throws down the stretch to close out the victory.
 
Edinboro jumped out to an early 5-0 lead on an Elhusseini 3-pointer and a bucket by Hayley Sims. The Scots would hold the Lakers off the board for 4:25 before Bailey Kuhns hit a layup to make it 5-2. The teams played a tight first with Edinboro holding a 12-11 lead at the 2:05 mark of the first. Edinboro closed the quarter on a 5-0 spurt to lead 17-11 after one.
 
The second quarter was a defensive struggle that saw Edinboro out score the Lakers 12-9 and take a 29-20 advantage into the half.
 
Sims hit a 3-pointer right out of the break to push the advantage to 32-20 before four straight points from the Lakers cut the lead to 32-20. A 9-4 run from the Scots ran their lead to a game-high 13, 41-28, but six points in less than 30 seconds keyed a 10-2 run by the Lakers trimming the lead to 43-38 heading to the final quarter.
 
Sims recorded a double-double for the Lakers with 13 points and 10 rebounds as well as three blocks. Elhusseini also scored 13 points to go along with five boards and three helpers. Fisher finished with 13 points off the bench on 5-of-8 shooting.
 
Ava Waid was the only Laker to reach double figures on the night scoring 11 points.
 
The Scots return to action on Saturday when they host Shippensburg at 1 p.m. at McComb Fieldhouse.