Millersville, Pa. - The Marauders' nine-game win streak against Lock Haven was snapped on Wednesday as the Bald Eagles held on for a 49-46 victory and gave their head coach, Jennifer Smith, her first win over her former coach,
Mary Fleig (1-8).
Millersville (10-7, 7-5 PSAC) shot just 36.4 percent (16-of-44) from the field, 18.2 percent (2-for-11) from behind the arc and 54.5 percent (12-of-22) at the free throw line while dropping their third-straight game. Lock Haven (5-10, 4-7 PSAC) heated up in the second half to the tune of 42.9 percent (9-for-21) and snapped its two-game skid.
The Marauders' biggest lead of the game was seven and came when it was 14-7 with 7:35 to go in the first half. Six of Millersville's first 14 points came from
Alexis Martin and the Black and Gold were 6-of-14 from the floor in that span. The visitors answered with a 9-0 run of their own though and that put them up 16-14 with 4:19 remaining in the stanza. After three ties, the Bald Eagles headed into the locker room with a one-point edge, 22-21.
Out of the intermission,
Yasmin Cooper hit a layup before Lock Haven was able to regain the lead thanks to back-to-back jumpers by J.J. Hilliard and Sami Lane that put the away team up 25-24. The hosts kept fighting though and went back up 26-25 on an
Aunjel Van Brakle deuce and the Marauders held the lead until the 13:31 mark. At that point, the Bald Eagles were in the midst of a 10-0 run and led by five, 37-32 with 10:34 on the clock. Again, Millersville hung tough and scored eight of the next 11 points to knot things up at 40-40. Cooper and
Alex Stam each tallied three points during that stretch. After two more ties, the final coming at 44-44 with 2:27 to go, Lock Haven ended the contest on a 5-2 run to pull out the three-point win.
Statistically, Martin and
Sabina Mehmedovic each had a game-high 12 points while Martin tied a game-high in rebounds with seven. Neither of those two had scored in double figures since the Golden-Beacom game on Dec. 31. As a team, the Marauders had just two assists to 23 turnovers.
Next up, Millersville travels to Shippensburg on Saturday with tip set for 1 p.m. inside Heiges Field House. As of Wednesday night, the Raiders were just a half game behind the Marauders in the East with a conference record of 6-5.
