Behrend Women's Basketball Handles Franciscan In Impressive Fashion

The Penn State Behrend women's basketball team bounced back from a loss over the weekend with a dominating performance in the Junker Center on Monday, January 18, rolling to a 78-43 win over visiting Franciscan.

In the first half freshman Aly Eagle (Harmony/Seneca Valley) finished a layup and then knocked home a three-pointer to give Behrend a 17-4 lead with just under 11 minutes to play.  The blue and white continued their aggressive play, pressuring the Lady Barons into turnovers and making a 15-7 run over the next five minutes to create the largest lead of the first half with Behrend ahead 32-11 with 4:38 to play.  Franciscan then responded with an 11-2 run to close out the half, as Behrend took a 12-point lead to the break at 34-22.

After the break, Behrend (7-7, 5-5) continued its pressure defense and wore down the Lady Barons, forcing 18 turnovers and holding Franciscan to 31% shooting from the floor in the second half.  The blue and white finished the game with 19 steals, led by Amy Oldach (Erie/Villa Maria) who had five steals to go with 14 points and six rebounds.  Eagle finished the contest with a game high 16 points while Kelly Nowacinski (Erie/Mercyhurst Prep) added 15, and Christine Krankota (Conneaut Lake/Conneaut Lake) chipped in with ten points.     

For Franciscan (0-13, 0-10), Sarah Clemente had a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds and teammate Cara Mitchell finished with 13 points and five assists.  

Penn State Behrend women's basketball plays its next two games on the road.  First up on Saturday, January 23 the blue and white hit the road to face Mt. Aloysius in a conference game at 1:00 p.m., while on January 27 Behrend travels to D'Youville for a 6:00 p.m. showdown.