Free throw prowess leads Juniata WBB to 70-60 win over Catholic

WASHINGTON, D.C. – No. 15/17-ranked Juniata College women's basketball turned in one of the best free throw shooting performances of the season to pull away from Catholic University of America in the second half and post a 70-60 win over the Cardinals, Saturday afternoon at the DuFour Center.

The win improved Juniata's record to 15-1 overall, 5-0 in Landmark Conference play.

Juniata's 14-of-17 effort at the free-throw line, bolstered by an 11-of-13 mark in the second half alone, proved to be the difference for the Eagles.

That performance at the line compensated for the Eagles second half shooting from the field, which cooled dramatically over their effort in the opening stanza. Juniata was 16-of-35 (.457) from the floor in the first 20 minutes of play, but saw its field goal shooting drop to 9-of-30 (.300) in the second half.

For the game, the Eagles shot .385 from the field, barely ahead of the Cardinals .348 field goal percentage.

The two teams were nearly even on the boards, with Juniata holding a slight 46 to 42 rebounding advantage and both squads finishing with 16 offensive rebounds. The Eagles were slightly worse off on turnovers with 20 to the Cardinals' 19, but Juniata made better use of the Catholic miscues with 22 points-off-turnovers to CUA's 20.

Leading 56-53 with eight minutes remaining in the game, a pair of foul shots by Jordan Speck (Huntingdon, Pa./Southern Huntingdon) stretched Juniata's lead to five points, after Speck was fouled on a 3-point attempt.  Speck's third and final shot was off the mark, but Kate McDonald (Pennsylvania Furnace, Pa./State College Area) grabbed the offensive rebound and hit a jumper to give the Eagles a 60-53 advantage.

The Eagles held the Cardinals at bay from there, as Juniata was 8-of-8 at the stripe down the stretch and picked up a late bucket from Ashton Bankos (York, Pa./York Catholic) with 2:37 showing on the clock. Catholic proved to be unable to mount any sort of late comeback charge against Juniata, with the Eagle defense holding the Cardinals to 2-of-11 shooting from the field over the game's final eight minutes.

The first half was a much different affair, as Juniata and Catholic played each other neck-and-neck over 20 minutes with four ties and three lead changes.

Four more lead changes and three ties in the first six minutes of the second half finally resulted in Juniata taking the lead for good on Speck's 3-pointer at the 14:01 mark, giving the Eagles a 49-46 advantage.

After a combined seven missed field goals by the two teams, Speck padded the Juniata lead on her layup with 11:54 remaining. The Eagles held at least a one possession lead for the next five minutes, until Speck and McDonald combined on their eventual four-point play to begin widening the Juniata lead.

Speck finished with a career-high 25 points on 7-of-13 shooting from the field with three 3-pointers, and an 8-of-9 ledger at the line. McDonald logged 20 points on 9-of-18 shooting, and handed out six assists.

Natalie Glinsky (Indiana, Pa./Indiana) netted 11 points with nine rebounds, just missing out on recording her second double-double in as many games.  Bankos chipped in with 10 points, and was credited with three steals.

Catholic finished with a pair of double-digit scorers, led by Jill Woerner with 18 points. Emily Grabiak netted 10 with seven boards and four assists.

Juniata returns home on Friday, Jan. 20, to face Moravian College. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. at the Kennedy Sports + Recreation Center.

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