Ashton Bankos paves the way to Juniata victory

HUNTINGDON, Pa. – Juniata College women's basketball's Ashton Bankos (York, Pa./York Catholic) charted 25 points against Dickinson College Tuesday night in the Kennedy S+RC as she paced the Eagles to a 76-51 victory.

Bankos' 25-point effort, just one point shy of her career high of 26 set earlier this season against Saint Vincent, combined with sophomore Kate McDonald's (Pennsylvania Furnace, Pa./State College Area) 14 points, accounted for 51.3% of the Eagles' scoring. Additionally, McDonald notched her third double-double performance of the season with pulling down a total of 14 rebounds.

Neither squad sunk a basket until the third minute of the contest when Bankos stepped to the charity line and drained both foul shots. From there, the first stanza saw the score tied three times and the lead change four times.

However, with just seven minutes left in the half and the score tied at 16, no. 17 Juniata (8-0) decided enough-was-enough and really began tacking up the points. 

The Red Devils let the tight game slip away in the first half when they allowed Juniata to end the stanza on a 10-0 scoring run featuring a Bankos trey and jumper with a McDonald layup, followed by a junior Jordan Speck (Huntingdon, Pa./Southern Huntingdon) layup with harm and a corresponding foul shot.

The late scoring spree allowed Juniata to head into the locker room holding a 33-20 lead over Dickinson (1-8).

The Eagles steadily increased the score margin by shooting .500 from the field in the second 20 minutes of play. McDonald logged eight of her 14 points, while Bankos swiped four of her five steals all in the second half. 

In the contest, Juniata capitalized on the Red Devils' 26 turnovers, 14 of them Juniata steals, and converted them into 19 points while only allowing Dickinson to earn just two points off the Eagles' 16 turnovers. 

Women's hoops next travels to No. 6 William Paterson on Saturday, Dec. 10, for a 1:00 p.m. contest.

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