ERIE, Pa. – The No. 25-ranked Gannon women's basketball team dropped a 61-52 final to Seton Hill on Saturday afternoon at the Hammermill Center. With the win, the Griffins have swept the PSAC West home-and-home between the two programs.
Gannon dropped to 16-4 overall and 11-4 in league play with the setback. The Griffins improve to 18-7 overall and 12-4 in league play.
The back-and-forth game featured 16 lead changes and six ties before a nearly six minute scoring drought by Gannon allowed Seton Hill to put away the win. A pair of free throws by
Samantha Pirosko (Eastlake, Ohio/Eastlake North) knotted the score at 52-52 with 5:50 remaining, but Christiane Frye's 3-pointer with 4:40 to play gave the Griffins the lead for good as Seton Hill outscored Gannon 9-0 in the final 5:50 of the fourth quarter.
Statistically, the game was evenly matched with Seton Hill shooting 35.2 percent from the field (25-of-71) compared to 33.3 percent for the Knights (19-of-57). The Knights connected on just 2-of-11 from the floor (18%) in the fourth quarter. Both teams made just four 3-pointers.
Seton Hill held a 49-37 advantage on the glass, including a 23-13 advantage on the offensive glass. SHU scored 20 second-chance points in the win.
The game featured a matchup of two of the top post players in the league. Seton Hill's Katie Nolan finished the afternoon with a game-high 24 points and 17 rebounds (including seven offensive rebounds). Pirosko matched up throughout the afternoon and finished with 23 points and seven rebounds. Pirosko went 9-of-9 from the free throw line.
Gannon also got eight points and four rebounds from
Tori Obenrader (Fryburg, Pa./North Clarion) and seven points and 12 rebounds from
Delaney Dogan (West Middlesex, Pa./West Middlesex).
Sydney Mitchell (Halethorpe, Md./Seton Keough) also chipped in six points.
Emily Poling (Defiance, Ohio/Defiance) passed out a game-high six assists.
In addition to Nolan's performance, SHU got 11 points from Cheyenne Trest and seven points apiece from Sonia Sarda and Frye.
Gannon will look to get back in the win column on Monday evening with a home matchup against Pitt-Johnstown. Tip is set for 5:30 p.m.
