Juniata WBB whips Drew to complete weekend sweep of Landmark foes

HUNTINGDON, Pa. – When Drew University jumped out to a 4-0 lead over Juniata College early in its Landmark Conference women's basketball game Saturday in Huntingdon, Pa., it looked like the Rangers might give the host Eagles all they could handle.

As it turned out, that would be the only lead Drew held all afternoon.

Juniata responded with a 16-0 run, giving the Eagles a double-digit lead that would seldom get knocked into single digits, and went on to extinguish the Rangers 71-49, in front of 350 fans at the Kennedy Sports + Recreation Center.

The win gives Juniata (10-6, 3-2 Landmark) victories in four of its last five outings, with the only loss coming in overtime against the University of Scranton.

The Juniata run was keyed by back-to-back three-pointers from Claudia McDowell (Alexandria, Pa./Juniata Valley) and Ali Meckey (Ebensburg, Pa./Bishop Carroll), for two of Juniata's four treys on the night.

Meckey's three-pointer at the 15:15 mark of the opening frame was the 141st of her career, setting a new Juniata record for three-point field goals made and eclipsing the old mark of 140 held by Kerry Stefanko (1992-96).

Juniata saw its double-digit lead reduced to under 10 points on only three occasions, with the last coming at the 8:30 mark of the opening frame on a foul shot by Michele Cordaro that left the score 21-12 in Juniata's favor. The Eagles expanded the lead to 11 points just moments later on a layup by Kelly Rotan (Atco, N.J./Hammonton), and Juniata outscored the Rangers 18-7 over the remainder of the first half.

The second half was thoroughly dominated by the Eagles, whose lead reached its widest at 29 points, 52-23 with 14:42 remaining in the game, following a layup by Jen Hnatuck (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Trinity).

McDowell led the Eagles with 17 points, with a 7-of-10 mark from the field, while Kelly Ashcraft (Bellefonte, Pa./State College) added 12 points to the Eagle cause. Hnatuck hauled in 10 rebounds to go with her eight points.

Drew was paced by Laura Methvin with 17 points on a 7-of-10 shooting performance, while Emma Grossman chipped in with 10 points. The Eagles held Drew to just 32.7% (18-55) shooting from the field, while shooting 51.0% (26-51) themselves – Juniata's third-best shooting performance of 2007-08. The 16 turnovers committed by the Eagles was the second-lowest in a game this season.

The Eagles return to action this Saturday, Jan. 26, when they face Goucher College in Baltimore. Juniata will square-off with Catholic University the following afternoon, to complete its first time around the Landmark Conference loop.

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