Aurora, NY - The Lady Lions came into the Well's College Basketball Arena expecting to leave with a 5-0 conference record after another strong 40 minutes of basketball. Unfortunately Well's must have missed that memo and came into the game with a plan of their own on way to a 85-76 win over the Lions.
The 3-8 Express showed they were not going to be a rollover game very early as they started with an 11-2 run with 16:43 to go in the half. The lions battled back quickly and had the score to 13-7 after an Amanda Moyer (Carlisle, Pa. / Cumberland Valley) layup at 14:54.
Unfortunately, a three minute mental lapse allowed Wells to go on an 11-0 run and gave them a game high 18 point lead with 7:44 until the break. By halftime Harrisburg was only able to cut the deficit to 15 with a score of 42-27.
Harrisburg did not travel all that way to leave without putting forth a fight for the win. Leading the charge in the second half was Mercedes Copeland (Reading Pa/Reading) who scored the teams highest individual point total of the season with 27 points.
With Copeland's strong performance the Lady Lions were able to cut the lead to as little as 3 points with just under 10 minutes to play, but a clutch pair of Well's layups put a stop to the comeback. The Express finished the game up shooting well from the line and keeping Harrisburg from hitting the big shot they needed. The game finished with a score of 85-76.
"We had a very sluggish start, lost our composure a little bit, and towells credit they hit some early shots that put us in a pretty deephole" said Harrisburg's coach Patrick following the game. He continued with "The girls responded in the second half with greateffort, energy, but the deficit was just a little too much to overcometoday. You just have to give the credit to Wells, they were prepared,played together, and made some big shots."
The lions have a now even more important matchup tomorrow against Keuka College that could likely decide who will host the conference championships at the end of the season.