#9 Cardinals Control Pace Over Eagles

WASHINGTON, D.C.- The #9 Catholic Cardinals pushed out to a 44-21 halftime lead that they were able to maintain to the finish of a 73-50 defeat of the Juniata women's basketball team on Wednesday night.  

Bri Bodtorf contributed a team-high 18 points, going 8-13 on field goals with a pair of threes and three assists, while Emma Coolidge fired off a career-high 15 points with six rebounds from the bench. 

A trio of three-point shots gave Steph Emert nine points alongside a pair of steals, while Laney Gerdich posted ten rebounds with three points. 

Catholic found their footing from the start, firing off two threes on their first two possessions, pushing out to an eight-point lead before Bodtorf opened Juniata's scoring with an open-look three on the left wing following Olivia Berg's up-court pass. Catholic answered right back with a three of their own and back-to-back layups for a 15-3 lead halfway through the first. 

Following a JC timeout, Bodtorf returned with another three-pointer from the left corner, but the Cardinals again answered with a shot beyond the arc. Coolidge tallied a three and a layup in the middle stages of the first to maintain pace with the Cardinals, while an Emert three right from a defense board for Berg with four seconds to go put Juniata behind 23-14 through ten minutes. 

Catholic comfortably outscored Juniata in the second quarter 21-7, opening the second with a 10-0 run in the first four minutes for a 33-14 advantage.  

The Eagles returned from the halftime break unable to chip away at the lead, with Catholic narrowly outscoring Juniata 17-15 in the third quarter. Bodtorf led Juniata's scoring with eight points off three layups and a jumper. The fourth saw the Eagles outscore Catholic 14-12 thanks to six points from Coolidge and a three from Emert.  

The Juniata women's basketball team plays their final away contest of the regular season as they venture to Goucher on Saturday at 4:00 pm.