Eagles Dance No More, Saints Ground Eagles

CRESTVIEW Hills, KY- The Juniata women's basketball team lost at #3 Thomas More, 83-50, in the second round of the NCAA tournament Saturday evening which put an end to an excellent season for the Eagles.

Morgan Instone (Johnstown, Pa./Bishop McCourt) had 11 points and two steals, Gracie Stauffer (Loysville, Pa./West Perry) added seven points and five rebounds off the bench while Bethany Spencer (York, Pa./York Suburban) had six points and six rebounds. Dani Atkinson (Lancaster, Pa./Lancaster Catholic) had five points, five rebounds and two steals. Carmella Bickel (Elysburg, Pa./Lourdes Regional) had five points and two rebounds. Rachael Anstine (York, Pa./Dallastown) had four points and two rebounds while Veronica Cosmopolis (Lima, Peru/Colegio Carmelitas) and Kaeana Rebert (Hanover, Pa./South Western) had three points apiece.

The Saints came out strong as they nailed two threes on their way to a 10-0 run early on. Cosmopolis nailed a wide open three off a pass from Anstine to put the Eagles on the board. Atkinson answered another Saints three with a jumper to make it 13-5. The Saints continued their hot shooting as two Instone free throws and a Spencer jumper made it 26-9. Saints knocked down two free throws as JC trailed 28-9 after one.

Stauffer scored on a put back of her own miss to make it 28-11 to open the second. Later, Atkinson grabbed an offensive rebound and dished it to Madison Colyer (Newville, Pa./Big Spring) for a jumper to make it 39-16. Spencer scored the final bucket of the half for JC with a triple as the Eagles went into the locker room down 42-19.

 The Eagles battled in the second half, and Thomas More had a nine-point edge in the second half, 40-31.

Thomas More shot 50.0% (10-20) from three and tallied 34 points off of JC turnovers.  

Juniata closes the season 23-5, the second-most wins in a season in program history.