(Posted December 27, 2005)

Lakeland 64, Juniata 60

SOUTH PADRE ISLAND, Texas ? The Juniata College women?s basketball team dropped to .500 on the season with a 64-60 loss to Lakeland College in the first round of the South Padre Shootout.

After trailing by nine at halftime, the Eagles found themselves down 14 points early in the second half. However, they came storming back, using a 7-0 run to cut the lead to 58-54 with just over a minute remaining on a pair of Katie O?Brien (South Western/Hanover) free throws. The Eagles were forced to foul, and Lakeland hit six of eight from the line down the stretch to put the game away.

Kristen Kirk (Newport/Newport) paced the Eagles with 17 points, including three three-pointers. No other Juniata player scored in double figures, as the squad shot under 40 percent from the floor. As a team, the Eagles did hit six three-pointers out of 14 attempts, including two by Jill Walsh (Ferndale/Johnstown) and one from Ali Meckey (Bishop Carroll/Ebensburg). Meckey finished with nine points, Kelly Ashcraft (State College/Bellefonte) had eight, and O?Brien added seven to go along with a team-high eight boards

Lakeland?s Kristi Thill topped all scorers with 27 points.

Juniata (5-5) will finish up the tournament in the consolation game tomorrow.

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Contact April Feagley at feaglea@juniata.edu or (814) 641-3131 for more information.