Eagles Fall to Blue Jays

ELIZABETHTOWN, Pa.- The Juniata women's basketball team fell to a persistent attack from the #24/15 (D3Hoop.com/WBCA) Elizabethtown College Blue Jays on Wednesday evening. 

Steph Emert collected 20 points, going a perfect eight-for-eight on free throws with a pair of three-pointers for a new career-high figure. Haily Sherman followed with eight points, while Emma Coolidge totaled an Eagles-best eight rebounds. 

Juniata faced an accurate Blue Jays offense that hit 59.0% of field goal attempts and 46.7% of three-point attempts. The Eagles were strong from the free throw line, hitting 12 of 13.  

In rebounds, the Blue Jays collected 28 defensive rebounds to the Eagles' 14.  

Kynnedy Miller opened the scoring in the contest, hitting one of two free throws. Elizabethtown returned the favor on the next possession. The Blue Jays followed with a layup before Miller scored a layup of her own off a Bri Bodtorf pass. Just a minute later, an Emert layup put the Eagles ahead. A pair of Blue Jays free throws on the next possession back level at five. The sides traded layups and jumpers over the next few possessions up to a 9-9 tie before Elizabethtown stormed away to a 19-11 lead at the end of the first quarter. 

Emert opened the second quarter with two converted free throws, but a 14-point Elizabethtown followed this to widen the gap to 33-15 through five minutes in the second. The gap remained around twenty points at halftime, with Juniata trailing 42-21 at the break.  

Juniata posted a game-high 17 points in the third quarter, but they also faced a game-high 32 points from Elizabethtown. Emert hit both of her three-pointers in the third quarter, but Elizabethtown tallied five of their seven threes on the night in the third. 

Scoring slowed down in the fourth quarter, with Juniata being outscored 12-6. Four of the six came from Emert, while Coolidge also tallied a layup. 

The Eagles look to rebound with a trip to Baltimore for a 2:00 p.m. tipoff against Goucher. Juniata collected a 71-56 win at Memorial Gymnasium in January. That was the night where Emert previously totaled a career-high 18 points, while Sherman and Bodtorf each collected 13.