Erie, Pa. – The Edinboro women's basketball team led wire-to-wire and handed Gannon their first home loss since Nov. 10 of last year 66-53 Wednesday night inside the Highmark Event Center.
 
Late in the third quarter, Maddy Wheatly cut the Edinboro lead to 40-34 with a 3-pointer at the 3:24 mark. Hayley Sims answered with a triple of her own at 3:06 to push the lead back out to 43-34. A pair of Gabby McDuffie free throws extended the lead to 45-34. The Golden Knights scored a layup with 2:01 left in the third, but the Scots scored the final eight points of the quarter with four points each from Ashten Boggs and Sims to take a 53-36 lead into the final frame.
 
Gannon scored first in the fourth quarter cutting the lead to 53-38. Sims hit a 3-pointer to push the Scot lead to 56-38. The Golden Knights went on a 12-5 spurt to cut the lead to 61-50 with 4:26 left in the game. Five straight points from Rachael Manfredo put Edinboro up 66-50 with 1:33 to play. Gannon scored a late trey to set the final as the Scot defense held Gannon to just three points over the final 4:26.
 
The Scots got out of the gate fast jumping out to an 8-0 lead after a Morgan Gentile free throw at the 4:49 mark of the opening frame. Gannon answered with a 5-2 spurt to cut the advantage to 10-5 with 2:23 on the clock. McDuffie hit four free throws over the final 2:02 to push the edge to 14-5 at the end of the first.
 
Gentile extended the lead to 16-5 with a layup to start the second quarter. Mia Slater trimmed the lead to 18-11 at the 6:14 mark. Hope Garrity hit a jumper and Sims a triple to put the Scots back up double digits 23-11 with 5:00 left in the second. After a Sims free throw, back-to-back Carissa Dunham 3-pointers cut the lead to 24-17 with 2:25 remaining in the second. Edinboro scored the next eight points on triples from McDuffie and Gentile as well as a pair of Ava Haddad free throws. Bri Claxon scored with 34 seconds left in the second to trim the Edinboro lead to 32-19 at the half.
 
The scoring was slowed out of the break with Gentile scoring the first points of the half on a 3-pointer at the 7:13 mark to push the lead to 35-19. The Golden Knights responded with a 12-3 run to trim the lead to 38-31 at the 5:05 mark. Natalie Angeletti pushed the lead back to 40-31 with an elbow jumper at the 3:59 mark.
 
The Edinboro defense held Gannon to 31.4 percent shooting from the field and forced 14 Golden Knight turnovers. The Scots by contrast shot 50.0 percent from the field and 71.4 percent form beyond the arc.
 
Sims led the Edinboro offense with 20 points including a 5-of-7 showing from long range. Gentile added 13 points, four rebounds and four assists. McDuffie added 12 points, nine rebounds and a steal.
 
Claxon led the Golden Knights with 12 points. Wheatley was the only other Gannon player in double figures with 10 points and six rebounds.
 
The Scots return to action on Saturday when they host Pitt-Johnstown at 1 p.m. inside McComb Fieldhouse. Edinboro will honor the senior members of the basketball program prior to the game.