cleve
Sean Gallagher
59
Gannon GANNON-W 4-1
63
Winner Shepherd SHEP-W 6-0
Gannon GANNON-W
4-1
59
Final
63
Shepherd SHEP-W
6-0
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 F
Gannon GANNON-W 13 11 19 16 59
Shepherd SHEP-W 16 13 20 14 63

Game Recap: Women's Basketball | | Bob Shreve, Assistant Director of Athletics Media Relations

Gannon Rally Comes Up Short at Shepherd

SHEPHERDSTOWN, W.Va. – The good news for the seventh-ranked Gannon women's basketball team was the return of Sydney Mitchell (Halethorpe, Md./Seton Keough) on Friday night. The bad news was the loss of the PSAC's leading scorer, Samantha Pirosko (Eastlake, Ohio/Eastlake North), to an injury early in the second quarter. It got worse for the Golden Knights, as they would suffer their first defeat of the season despite a gutsy comeback, falling 63-59 at Shepherd.

The game featured a pair of undefeated teams and the top two scorers in the PSAC as both teams began PSAC action. Gannon falls to 4-1 while Shepherd improved to 6-0. The battle of the conference's leading scorers never materialized with Pirosko, the leader at 21.8 ppg., missing most of the game and finishing with three points and five rebounds while playing 12 minutes. Abby Beeman, the Shepherd guard who came in at 21.4 ppg., was harassed all night by Emma Wright (Fairview, Pa./Talawanda) and was held to eight points, all in the fourth quarter. She did finish with nine assists, five rebounds, and eight turnovers.

Turnovers, in fact, played a major role in the game with both teams committing 22 miscues. Gannon held a slight 31-29 advantage in points off turnovers.

Gannon found itself trailing 59-45 with 4:25 remaining after Beeman banked in a 3-pointer to cap a 10-0 run. The Golden Knights countered with an 11-0 run which began with Mitchell matching Beeman with a three off glass. Tori Obenrader (Fryburg, Pa./North Clarion) followed with a layup and Wright made it 59-52 on a layup off a Rams' turnover.

Delaney Dogan (West Middlesex, Pa./West Middlesex) added a pair of baskets, her only two of the night, as the Golden Knights pulled to within 59-56 with 1:47 remaining. Beeman scored on a steal and layup to boost the SU lead to five, but Mitchell answered with a 3-pointer as the Golden Knights trailed by just two at 61-59 with 41 seconds left.

Shepherd would miss on its ensuing possession, but a GU turnover forced the Golden Knights to foul, with Marley McLaughlin depositing two free throws with eight seconds left. Gannon missed a pair of 3-pointers in the final seconds.  

Mitchell made her first appearance of the season late in the first quarter. The senior guard was forced to re-enter early in the second quarter when Pirosko went down with the injury.

After taking an early 5-2 lead, Gannon saw Shepherd run off 11 straight points to take a 13-5 lead with 3:26 remaining in the first quarter. The Golden Knights would go on a run of their own to finish the first quarter, outscoring the Rams 8-3 to pull to within 16-13 after ten minutes.

Emily Poling (Defiance, Ohio/Defiance) opened the second quarter with a jumper as the junior guard scored her seventh straight point, pulling the Knights to within a point at 16-15.

Right after that, Pirosko went down chasing a rebound. Shepherd proceeded to score the next eight points on a layup and a pair of 3-pointers to pull ahead 24-15 with 6:49 left in the half. Back came the Golden Knights, with Boston McKinney (Bolivar, Ohio/Tuscarawas Valley) scoring on a mid-range jumper and a layup, sandwiching a Rams' layup. Tori Obenrader's (Fryburg, Pa./North Clarion) 3-point play and layup brought GU back to within two at 26-24. The Golden Knights would turn the ball over twice in the final minute, with Madi White's layup and free throw giving Shepherd a 29-24 advantage at the half.

Gannon shot a season-low 38.3 percent from the floor (23-of-60), including a 6-for-22 showing on 3-pointers. Shepherd shot 46.3 percent (23-of-54), making 7-of-16 three's. Neither team spent much time at the line, with Gannon making 7-of-8 at the charity stripe and Shepherd a perfect 6-of-6. The Golden Knights held a slight 34-31 lead in rebounds.

Poling paced the Golden Knights with a season-high 12 points, while Wright had 11 points and three blocked shots. Obenrader contributed seven points off the bench. Dogan, double-teamed all day on the offensive end, led all rebounders with nine.

McLaughlin led all scorers with 20 points for Shepherd, making 4-of-4 3-pointers, and also had a team-high nine rebounds. Sydney Clayton was also in double digits with 19 points.

The Golden Knights are back in action on Saturday night playing at Shippensburg. Tipoff is set for 5:30 p.m. at Heiges Field House.
 
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