MILLERSVILLE, Pa. – Lauren Lister was honored before Saturday's home opener against Edinboro for reaching the 1,000 point plateau then followed it up with 31 points, nine rebounds and seven assists to lead the Marauders to victory, 85-78.
Millersville improves to 2-4 and 1-2 in PSAC play. Edinboro falls to an identical 2-4, 1-2 record.
Lister paced the Marauders with her 31 points on 10-of-23 shooting, including a 10-of-11 mark from the free throw line.
Olivia Mottern poured in 20 points, including a 4-of-8 effort from the 3-point line.
Courtney Dimoff (12 points) was the only other Marauder to reach double figures.
MATCH HIGHLIGHTS
• Millersville and Edinboro played an even first five minutes before an 8-0 Millersville spurt from the 5:26 to 2:55 mark opened up an 18-10 Millersville lead. A 3-pointer from Mottern, free throws from Lister and another 3-pointer from Dimoff led the way. The Marauders owned a 21-16 lead after one quarter.
• Millersville held the Fighting Scots scoreless through the first 3:30 of the second quarter. The stingy defense fueled the offense and helped Millersville open up its second-largest lead of the contest at 17 points. A 12-0 run gave Millersville a 33-16 advantage, one they maintained at halftime, 39-32.
• Edinboro cut Millersville's lead to as little as four with 8:11 remaining in the third quarter, but it would be the closest the Fighting Scots would get the remainder of the game. The Marauders promptly responded by opening up an 18-point lead in the next five minutes and led 62-50 at the end of three quarters.
• Edinboro shot 6-of-14 (42.8 percent) from 3-point range in the final stanza, but strong free throw shooting helped Millersville hold its lead.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
• The Marauders finished an outstanding 21-of-22 (95.4 percent) from the charity stripe. Lister's 10 free throws made and 11 attempts were both a season-high.
• Lister (31 points), Mottern (20 points) and
Mia Leonard (8 points) all recorded season-high scoring efforts.
• The Marauders recorded 36 points in the paint, compared to Edinboro's 30.
• Millersville shot 28-of-61 (45.9 percent) from the field and 8-of-24 (33.3 percent) from downtown. Edinboro shot 36.1 percent and 31.3 percent from the field and 3-point range, respectively.
• Millersville forced 22 turnovers. Of those 22, five were charges.
• Millersville led for 37:41 out of 40 total minutes in the game.
POSTGAME REACTION FROM HEAD COACH MARY FLEIG
• "We knew we needed to take charges for this game. Five was our goal, and we got them out of three people. That was really fun to see because that's five defensive stops of them not scoring, which was huge. What I really liked to see was how into it our bench was after taking a charge."
• "Lauren is hard to defend because she's very good in transition and getting to the rim. A lot of different people on Edinboro's team tried to stop her and they couldn't. She kept getting the ball and finishing or getting fouled. When we can get our running game going with her we can score a lot of points."
• "Olivia is a workhorse. She does all of the little things. We try and get her the ball shooting in situations where she can be successful. I think we did a great job of that. She also did a really good job rebounding and boxing out, and I think that's the progression she's made from last year to this year. She's becoming a more complete, all-around player.
• "There's no place like home. It's not just for the team, but for the coaches. I woke up today and was so excited to play at home. We haven't been at home yet and it's December. What that feels like, that ball just feels so good coming off your hand."
NOTES
• Millersville snapped an eight-game losing streak to Edinboro with Saturday's victory. The Marauders improved to 10-11 all-time against the Fighting Scots.
• Saturday was Millersville's first home game of the season. With the win, they improved to 9-1 in home openers this decade.
UP NEXT
Millersville heads back on the road for a matchup at Goldey-Beacom. The game is on Monday, Dec. 9 and will tip at 6 p.m.
