Women’s Hoops Secures First Landmark Win with 67-62 Triumph over Drew

MADISON, NJ- A career performance by sophomore Katy Leamer (Bellwood/Bellwood-Antis) helped propel the Juniata women's basketball team to a 67-62 win over Drew on Saturday afternoon at Baldwin Gymnasium. It is the first Landmark Conference win for the Eagles this season and moves their record to 3-9 overall and 1-2 in the conference. The Rangers fall to 7-4 overall and 2-1 in the Landmark.

Leamer scored 26 points in 25 minutes off the bench for Juniata. She was 9-of-11 in field goals and sank all four of her three-point attempts along with all four of her free throws. She also secured five rebounds.

Juniata led by five points at halftime and saw its lead grow to 13 points early in the second half. Drew rallied to erase the deficit and led by one point, 62-61, with just over three minutes to play in the contest. A layup courtesy of Kelsey Livoti (Altoona/Bishop Guilfoyle) with 2:13 to play followed by a jumper from Leamer at 43 seconds and two free throws with 19 ticks on the clock pushed the Eagles ahead and gave them a lead that they would not relinquish.

Leamer was part of a strong Juniata bench that outscored Drew's 33-2. The Eagles also doubled up on the Rangers in points off of turnovers 18-9 and had a 10-6 edge in second-chance points.

Drew started off strong in the beginning of the first half as they went ahead 11-4 with under 14 minutes to play. The Ranger lead grew to eight points, 15-7, at 11:15. A 12-2 JC run, with half of the points coming from Leamer, gave Juniata the lead of 18-17 at 6:49.

The Rangers recovered with a 9-0 spurt to go up 25-18 with under four minutes to play in the stanza.  JC caught fire as they rattled off 12 unanswered points to surge ahead 30-25 at intermission with Livoti and Leamer both providing six points each. In the second half, Drew cut the Juniata lead down to two, 36-34, at 16:03 but an 11-0 run by the Eagles gave them their 13-point advantage at 13:15.

The Rangers' 19-7 run that spanned eight minutes of game time gave the home team its first lead of the second half, 55-54, with 4:35 to play. Drew had two more leads with the final time coming with 3:04 remaining. After a missed jumper from Livoti, the Rangers came down with the rebound but Drew's Courtney Stephens turned over the ball to give Juniata possession. Livoti's layup gave the Eagles the lead for good and the defense forced three missed Ranger shots to come away with the win.

Livoti finished with 17 points, seven rebounds, and four assists. Danielle Atkinson (Lancaster/Lancaster Catholic) added 13 points on 5-of-11 shooting and was 3-of-4 from beyond the three-point arc. Overall the Eagles shot 26-of-68 (38.2%) from the field and were 8-of-18 (44.4%) in three-point attempts that was the team's second-best percentage of the season.

The Eagles return to Huntingdon and will host Goucher on Tuesday night in another Landmark Conference matchup. Game time from Memorial Gymnasium will be at 7 p.m.