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ERIE, Pa. - Junior Nettie Blake (Jersey City, N.J./Marist) became the 25th Lady Knight in program history to record 1,000 career points, as No. 4 Gannon defeated Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) West Division opponent Seton Hill, 64-53, at the Hammermill Center in their seventh annual Pink Zone game. The Lady Knights captured their 25th consecutive home game, the second best active win streak in NCAA Division II. In the victory, the Lady Knights improved to 20-1 overall and 9-1 in divisional play, while the Griffins fell to 12-8 and 4-6 in the division.
Blake's 1,000th career point came on a tic-tac-toe play starting with senior Kelley Sundberg (Mansfield, Conn/E.O. Smith) finding senior Jen Papich (Pittsburgh, Pa./Fox Chapel) at the top of the key, only for the senior to feed Blake down low for a layup with 5:38 remaining in the game. Blake joins Papich, who has recorded 1367 career points, on the list of 1,000 point scorers in program history. For the 17th time this season, Blake recorded double digits.
Blake finished the afternoon with 10 points, adding a game-high eight rebounds in only 17 minutes of action. Leading the Lady Knights for the second time this season was sophomore Morgan Neighbors (Westerville, Ohio/Westerville South) with a career game-high 17 points along with two assists and three rebounds. Neighors shot 4-for-6 from behind the arc to account for nearly half of the Lady Knights' treys. After being held scoreless in the first half, junior Brittany Batts (Leesburg, Va./Loudon County) heated up in the second, burying three long-range shots for nine points on the day.
With a 29-5 advantage, the Lady Knights' reserves outscored their opponent for the 17th game this season with Neighbors accounting for more than half the bench points.
Three Griffins recorded double digits from the floor, as Tiara Stossel led the Griffins with 15 points. Paige Alviani led the Griffins on the boards with seven rebounds, adding 13 points. Fouling out of the contest late, Katie Gattuso's streak of 17 consecutive double-doubles came to an end, as she was only able to match four rebounds with her 10 points.
The Lady Knights finished the day shooting 42.9 percent (21-49) from the field and 45 percent (9-20) from the long range. Both squads shot well from the foul line, as the Lady Knights hit 86.7 percent (13-15) and the Griffins shot 84.2 (16-19). The Griffins hit 44.4 percent (16-36) from the field.
After shooting above 50 percent in three of their last four games, the Lady Knights ran into some early trouble shooting from the field. The Lady Knights shot 34.6 percent (9-26) from the field in the opening half, recording their lowest point-total in a half this season. For only the second time all season, the Lady Knights trailed an opponent at the break, facing a 27-26 deficit.
The bench revived the Lady Knights' offense, as sophomore Jennie Thies (Lakewood, N.Y./Southwestern) and Neighbors combined for 15 of the 26 first-half points. Thies was perfect in the opening half, shooting 3-for-3 from the field and 1-for-1 from the free-throw line. Six of Neighbors' eight points came from behind the arc. In the first-half alone, the Lady Knights bench held a 15-2 advantage over the Griffins.
The Lady Knights opened the first half with nine turnovers, only to clean it up in the second half with only four. The Griffins managed to only turn the Lady Knights' first-half turnovers into five points, whereas the Lady Knights converted the Griffins' eight turnovers to 10 first-half points.
Seton Hill and Gannon tallied a combined 12 points with over five minutes off the clock at the start with the score knotted up at 6-6. Trailing 9-6, an 8-0 run handed the team its widest lead of the first half including Neighbors' first three of the day.
Starting with 8:41 remaining, the Griffins wasted no time to answer the Lady Knights' offensive attack by putting together an 11-2 run to take a 20-16 lead. Through the Griffins' late-run, they managed to hold the lead through the remaining time in the first half. Neighbors' third three of the opening frame with seven seconds left limited the Griffins' lead to one entering the break, 27-26.
Following back-to-back Gannon fouls to open the second half, the Griffins pushed their lead to three twice. Off a Lady Knights' turnover, the Griffins captured their largest lead of the contest, 33-28, with 17:59 remaining.
Facing a five-point deficit, the Lady Knights' offense erased the first 25:17 of the game from their mind. From there out, the buckets began to fall starting with five straight points from freshman Brianna Brennan (Woodhaven, Mich./Woodhaven). Following a layup by Brennan, the freshman stole the Griffins' next possession from Alviani and buried a three to tie the game at 35-35 with 13:30 left.
Brennan kick started a 20-6 run by the Lady Knights that swung the momentum their way in the form of a 52-44 lead with 7:48 left. Among the Lady Knights' 20 points, 18 came off six threes including three from Batts.
A visit to the free-throw line by Neighbors at 4:58 gave the Lady Knights their first double-digit lead of the game, 58-48. Down the stretch, six of the Lady Knights' final eight points came at the charity stripe as the team sealed the 64-53 win.
The boards were not active this afternoon, as the two teams combined for only 49. The Lady Knights held a 26-23 advantage over the Griffins on the glass, including a 10-4 edge in offensive boards.
Proceeds from this afternoon's Pink Zone game will be distributed to local organizations, Linked by Pink and Making Strides. In six previous Pink Zone games, the Lady Knights have successfully raised $85,000.
Gannon remains at the Hammermill Center when the Lady Knights welcome divisional opponent Slippery Rock on Wednesday, Feb. 5, at 5:30 p.m.
GAME NOTES: Gannon improves to 5-2 in Pink Zone games, winning its last three… For the 11th time in program history, the Lady Knights eclipsed the 20-win plateau… The Lady Knights remain unbeaten in their all-time series against the Griffins at 4-0 and improved to 2-0 when hosting SHU… Former Lady Knight Kelly Reedy Elwell '85, '93M will be inducted into the 2014 GU Athletics Hall of Fame this evening.