By Alex Kurtz, Sports Editor
Despite a strong performance from senior Courtney Adams, the Susquehanna women’s basketball fell to rival Juniata College 58-51 on Wednesday night in Selinsgrove.
Adams scored a game-high 23 points on the evening and was one rebound away from recording a double-double.
The Eagles came into the game with one of the best records in the Landmark Conference with an 17-2 overall record and 6-2 in conference play.
Juniata managed to come out with a win despite a poor shooting percentage of 37.9 percent from the floor mainly due to points off of turnovers, where they outscored Susquehanna 14-5 despite having six less turnovers than the River Hawks.
The Eagles bench were able to contribute heavily with 17 points compared to Susquehanna’s seven points.
The first quarter of the game was relatively back and forth, as the quarter would end with a 1514 Susquehanna lead thanks to a late layup by Freshman Erin McQuillen on an assist from sophomore Maggie Wilson.
The second quarter remained close as both teams traded blows until Juniata’s Dani Atkinson hit a three-pointer to give Juniata a 28-23 lead with 3:58 to play.
Susquehanna brought it back to a three-point deficit thanks to a layup from Adams, but Bethany Spencer pushed the Juniata lead further with a threepointer to make the score 31-25 with 2:12 remaining.
The River Hawks would cut the lead to four by the end of the half and go into halftime with a score of 34-30 Juniata.
Scoring of any kind was hard to come by in the third quarter and Susquehanna was able to rally to tie the game at 34 thanks to an Adams layup. They would later take the lead on a Nevin Hoenninger trip to the freethrow line. She would knock down both to give the River Hawks a 36-34 lead with 3:51 remaining in the quarter.
Just as Susquehanna were able to get some momentum going for a possible run though, Juniata would shut it down fairly quick.
Spencer would hit a three for the Eagles just 30 seconds later to put Juniata back on top 37-36 with 3:24 remaining.
Scoring would go back and fourth and the third quarter would end with the score tied at 40 apiece.
Juniata would score the first six points of the quarter while Susquehanna struggled for the first five minutes of the half. The River Hawks would finally get on the board with 4:37 left in the game on a layup from McQuillen to cut the Eagles’ lead to four.
McQuillen would make two more free throws soon after to cut Juniata’s lead to two, but that would be as close as Susquehanna would get, as the Eagles would clutch up in the closing minutes to come out with a 58-51 win.
With the win, Juniata improved to 18-2 on the season and 7-2 in conference play while Susquehanna fell to 8-11 and 3-6 in conference play. The River Hawks return to action on Saturday, Feb. 3 when they head to Goucher College. Game time for Susquehanna is at 4 p.m.