ERIE, Pa. – The No. 16-ranked Gannon women's basketball team shot nearly 50 percent from the floor and improved to 8-1 on the season with a 79-65 win over Bloomsburg on Sunday afternoon at the Hammermill Center.
Gannon got a team-high 15 points from
Tori Obenrader (Fryburg, Pa./North Clarion) in the win. Obenrader shot 3-of-6 from the field and buried each of her eight free throw attempts. She also pulled down seven rebounds.
Emma Wright (Fairview, Pa./Talawanda) chipped in 12 points, three rebounds and three assists for GU, while
Delaney Dogan (West Middlesex, Pa./West Middlesex) recorded a double-double with 12 points, 11 rebounds and two blocks.
Samantha Pirosko (Eastlake, Ohio/Eastlake North) also chipped in 10 points for the Knights.
Gannon also got contributions from
Emily Poling (Defiance, Ohio/Defiance) with eight points and four assists,
Faith Williams (Grafton, Ohio/Elyria Catholic) with eight points, three rebounds and four assists, and
Boston McKinney (Bolivar, Ohio/Tuscarawas Valley) with seven points, five assists and two steals.
Gannon is now 5-0 at home, 4-1 in PSAC play and enters the holiday break on a 4-game winning streak. Bloomsburg fell to 4-7 overall and 2-3 in the league following the setback.
The Knights scored 21 of the games first 28 points and led by 14 at the 2:43 mark of the first quarter. Bloomsburg pulled back within eight following a brief 6-0 run, but a layup by
McKel Nation (Lebanon, Ohio/Springboro) and two free throws from Dogan pushed the Knights lead back to double-digits (25-15) following one quarter of play.
After Gannon took a 41-31 lead into the locker room, the Huskies regrouped and began the second half on a 6-2 run that cut Gannon's lead to just six early in the third (43-37 at the 8:17 mark). However, a 3-pointer by Poling ended Bloomsburg's scoring run and gave the momentum back to the Knights.
Obenrader would go 6-for-6 from the free throw line and Pirosko added a layup in the final 2:27 of the third quarter to push Gannon's advantage back to 12 (60-48) with just 10 minutes remaining in the game.
After Bloomsburg scored the first four points of the fourth quarter, Gannon used 10-3 scoring run over a two-minute stretch to grab its largest lead of the game at 67-52 with 5:07 to play. Pirosko dropped in two layups while McKinney and Obenrader drained 3-pointers during the stretch.
Megan Fisher made a three and finished with a layup at the rim on back-to-back Bloomsburg possessions to pull the visitors to within 10 at the 3:24 mark, but from that point, the Golden Knights outscored the Huskies 9-5 to close out the 79-65 victory.
Gannon shot 49.1 percent (27-of-55) from the floor while limiting Bloomsburg to just 22-of-58 for the game (37.9%). The Knights also held a 38-30 advantage on the glass and passed out 22 assists on 27 made baskets.
Emma Saxton filled the stat sheet for the Huskies with 20 points, nine rebounds, five assists and five steals. Lauren Kirsch also chipped in 15 points for the visitors.
Gannon will now break for the holidays, before returning to play on Friday, Dec. 31 at Wheeling University. Tip is set for 2 p.m.
