Juniata Cruises to 78-43 Win Over Wilkes

HUNTINGDON, Pa. – An early 10-point swing helped propel the Juniata women's basketball team to its third straight win Wednesday night as the Eagles cruised to a 78-43 decision over Wilkes University at the Kennedy Sports+Recreation Center.  Juniata improved to 9-3 with the win, while the Lady Colonels dropped to 7-4.

"I definitely think we played a complete game tonight," said Head Coach Danny Young-Uhrich.  "A very good game when you look at our assists to field goals.  We had 27 assists on 31 field goals.  That's ultimate team playing right there and to only have nine turnovers.  I'm hoping we can keep this going because we are playing really well right now.  We definitely beat a quality team out there." 

Senior Jordan Speck (Huntingdon, Pa./Southern Huntingdon) led all players with 15 points.  She finished with a career-high six assists, two steals and one block.  Also in double-digits were sophomore Kelsey Livoti (Altoona, Pa./Bishop Guilfoyle) and freshman Natalie Hager (Franklin, Pa./Franklin) with 10 each, respectively.  Livoti tied a career-high with a game-high three blocks.  Hager had one of the best games of her career.  She tied a career-high in points while grabbing a game and career-high nine rebounds.

Putting in another great performance was freshman Maria Photiades (Abbottstown, Pa./Delone Catholic) who finished with a game and career-high seven assists.

Collectively, the Eagles scored 15 points off 17 Wilkes turnovers.  The Juniata defense kept the Lady Colonels on their toes allowing only one 3-pointer in 13 attempts.  Wilkes leading scorer Elena Stambone came into the day averaging over 20 points per game, but Speck took primary guarding duties and shut down the 5-8 guard.  Stambone finished with just 10 points in 27 minutes on the floor.

"Her defensive efforts on [Stambone] was going to be a tough matchup," said Young-Uhrich of Speck's defensive performance.  "We've been putting her on a lot of tough matchups lately and she really stepped up big for us today."

Stambone scored the first basket of the night four seconds into the game.  Juniata then went on a 12-2 run to take the lead and never looked back.  The Eagles led by 21 at the half.  Back-to-back three's would extend the lead to 35 with 36 seconds to play.

Wilkes was led by Megan Kazmerski who finished with 11 points.  Stambone had a team-high seven rebounds.

Juniata heads deep into conference play starting this Saturday, Jan. 5 as they host the Scranton Royals at 2 p.m. in a double-header with the men's team. 

"We need a conference win," Young-Uhrich stated.  "We started this second half of this break schedule pretty tough and I'm glad we have Scranton here just to keep that momentum going.  Moravian was a little disappointing, so hopefully we can pick up Scranton."

The Eagles have been facing Scranton since the 1975-76 season.  Despite having trouble against Scranton historically, Juniata has thrived under Young-Uhrich in recent years facing the Royals.  They are currently on a five-game win streak dating back to the 2010-11 season.  Juniata is 3-3 at home against the Royals under Young-Uhrich.

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