Juniata Routs John Jay 78-46, Advances to Championship Game

HUNTINGDON, Pa. – Juniata women's basketball flew past John Jay College 78-46 Friday night in the semifinals of the Holiday Tournament.  The Eagles (7-3) saw their bench contribute 26 points to the season-high total.  John Jay dropped to 4-5 with the loss.

"It was a good team effort," said Head Coach Danny Young-Uhrich.  "When you can get contribution like that from the bench, it's awesome.  The starters who went in did their job and it allowed for our bench to go in there and get some valuable playing time."

Juniata scored 30 of its points off turnovers and committed a season-low nine personal fouls, never allowing the Bloodhounds into the bonus.  They outrebounded John Jay 41-27 and finished with a game-high eight steals.

"That's good, especially against a very athletic team like John Jay," added Young-Uhrich.  "Staying out of foul trouble is always good, but another thing is getting to the line.  That's something we don't really do.  We kept ourselves out of foul trouble and in turn we got ourselves to the line."

The Eagles shot 16-of-18 from the free-throw line in the win.

Three finished in double-digits for Juniata.  Sophomore Kelsey Livoti (Altoona, Pa./Bishop Guilfoyle) led with a game-high 14 points.  She went 6-for-6 at the charity stripe and finished with eight rebounds.  Senior Jordan Speck (Huntingdon, Pa./Southern Huntingdon) and junior Kate McDonald (Pennsylvania Furnace, Pa./State College Area) picked up 12 and 11 points, respectively, averaging just 20 minutes between the pair. 

Speck scored three of her team-best four 3-pointers within in three minutes of each other.  McDonald, who tied Livoti for the team-high eight rebounds, made 5-of-9 from the floor.

John Jay was led by Victoria Story who finished with a team-high 11 points in 37 minutes on the court. 

Juniata advanced to the championship game and will face Kings College (Pa.) tomorrow, Saturday, Dec. 29.  The teams will meet at 4 p.m. after the consolation game between John Jay and Farmingdale State.  The Eagles have been competing against Kings since the 1978-79 season, but have not met since the 2001-02 season.  Juniata leads the all-time series 11-5.

Follow Your Eagles! Stay up-to-date on your Juniata College Eagles by following us on twitter (@JuniataEagles) and on Facebook (Juniata Eagles).