Scoreboard

Joe Mattis

Women's Basketball 1/11/2025 3:06:00 PM Bob Shreve, Assistant Director of Athletics Media Relations

Golden Knights Suffer Through Cold-Shooting Afternoon in Loss at Edinboro

EDINBORO, Pa. – The Gannon women's basketball suffered through a tough shooting afternoon while dropping a 62-45 decision at Edinboro on Saturday afternoon. The loss snapped an eight-game winning streak for the Golden Knights against Edinboro.

Gannon is now 15-3 overall and 7-2 in the PSAC West while Edinboro improved to 12-4 and 9-1 respectively. The Golden Knights completed a brutal three-game stretch in which they defeated California (Pa.) last Saturday and Indiana (Pa.) on Wednesday. Gannon came into the game ranked ninth in the WBCA Division II Top 25 and tenth in the D2CSC poll.

The Golden Knights were done in by a 17-for-64 shooting performance, a season-low 26.6 percent.

After playing back-to-back games on the road Gannon returns to its home home court for the first time since December 19, 2023. The Golden Knights welcome Slippery Rock to the reopening of the refurbished Highmark Events Center. Tipoff is set for 5:30 p.m.

HOW IT HAPPENED
Gannon jumped out to a 7-0 lead hitting its first three shots. Bri Claxon (South Webster, Ohio/South Webster) opened the game with a 3-pointer, in what would be her lone basket of the first half. Jordan Popyk (Novi, Mich./Novi) and Maddy Wheatley (Canberra, Australia/UCSSC Lake Ginninderra) followed with layups as Gannon led 7-0 at the 8:33 mark.

The Golden Knights went the next four minutes without a point, missing their next seven shots. Edinboro went on a 15-point run before Wheatley's driving layup ended the run at 4:33. The run was eventually 20-2.

Edinboro led 25-12 after one quarter as Hayley Sims had 14 points for the Fighting Scots. Gannon ended at 5-for-17 from the floor after making its first three shots of the game.

The second period turned into a defensive struggle but Edinboro was still able to its lead, outscoring the Golden Knights 11-8 for a 36-20 halftime advantage. Gannon struggled even more with its shooting in the period making just 2-of-17 attempts as the Golden Knights resorted to shooting three's.

Edinboro built its lead to 20 points early in the third quarter but Gannon twice closed the gap to 14 points on two occasions but when the third quarter ended the deficit was still 16 at 48-32. The third quarter features a stretch of three minutes without either team scored before Kate Ratliff (Canal Winchester, Ohio/Canal Winchester) drained a 3-pointer to make it 42-27.

Gannon continued to hustle throughout the fourth quarter and pulled to within 12 points on three occasions, the last at 54-42 on a Claxon drive with 5:48 remaining. But Edinboro ran off the next eight points as Gannon went the next 4 1/2 minutes without a point. In fact, that was Gannon's last field goal.

BY THE NUMBERS
Gannon ended the game shooting a season-low 26.6 percent from the floor (17-of-64) and made 6-of-28 3-pointers. After a hot start Gannon's defense clamped down on Edinboro and the Fighting Scots were held to 33.3 percent (19-of-57). That included a 4-for-16 performance on 3-pointers. Edinboro held a decided advantage at the line, making 20-of-22 from the charity stripe. Gannon only attempted five free throws, making all five. Three of those came with just over a minute remaining.

Edinboro also dominated the glass, outrebounding Gannon 53-32. Gannon committed 13 turnovers and Edinboro 16.

Gannon's 45 points were the lowest total since the Fighting Scots scored 45 points against California (Pa.) on Feb. 13, 2019.

Carissa Dunham (Fairview, Pa./Villa Maria) led Gannon in scoring with 13 points. The junior guard made 5-of-10 field goals and was 3-of-6 on 3-pointers. Maddy Wheatley (Canberra, Australia/UCSSC Lake Ginninderra) added eight points along with a team-high five rebounds. Dunham and Wheatley made 9-of-18 shots but the rest of the Golden Knights were 8-for-46.

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Players Mentioned

#12 Bri Claxon: G; 5' 7"; Junior

#13 Carissa Dunham: G; 5' 7"; Junior

#23 Kate Ratliff: G; 6' 0"; Sophomore

#4 Maddy Wheatley: G; 5' 11"; Redshirt Junior; Freshwater/Marine Biology and Environmental Science

#2 Jordan Popyk: G; 6' 2"; Freshman

Players Mentioned

#12 Bri Claxon
: 5' 7"; Junior
: G

#13 Carissa Dunham
: 5' 7"; Junior
: G

#23 Kate Ratliff
: 6' 0"; Sophomore
: G

#4 Maddy Wheatley
: 5' 11"; Redshirt Junior; Freshwater/Marine Biology and Environmental Science
: G

#2 Jordan Popyk
: 6' 2"; Freshman
: G