MIDDLETOWN, Pa. – Harrisburg came into tonight's game in an unfamiliar position. The Lady Lions were coming off three straight road losses when they stepped back on their home court tonight against the Gallaudet Bison for a 64-52 solid performance and win.
The Lions started the game strong from the first whistle led for a third game in a row by the ever improving and impressive Freshman Mercedes Copeland (Reading, PA/Reading) who scored seven of ten points building up a 10-5 lead in the first five minutes which was part of another double-double performance for her. Harrisburg followed it up with a 9-4 run that gave the lions a ten point lead at 19-9 with 8:26 until halftime.
Gallaudet kept things tight and just before the last minute of the half brought the score to within five. A Steph Yetter (Thompsontown, Pa. / East Juniata) layup followed immediately by an Emilee Truitt (West Chester, Pa. / Bishop Shanahan) clutch three pointer shut down the Bison comeback and gave the Lions a 33-23 lead at halftime.
Harrisburg took the momentum from the last minute of the first and continued it early in the second by starting the half with a 7-0 run. The Lions were able to extend their lead to as high as 18, but kept the score above double digits for the entire half.
The Lady Lions had the opportunity to get a lot of girls into the game tonight and had moments when the ball moved extremely quick around the floor. Probably the best stat improvement for the women was their ability to keep the possession of the ball by reducing their turnover count to 19.
Individually Yetter had a good night scoring 13 points while Kiara Carter (Bronx, N.Y. / Milton Hershey) showed her inside presence with 6 points and a team high 10 rebounds.
Coach Patrick had nothing but positives when describing tonight's game, "It was good to get home and get a win after three consecutive road losses, we reduced our turnovers, played well on the boards, and got contributions from the entire team. At the end of the day, a win like that makes a coach happy."
Harrisburg improves to 9-5 overall and 5-2 in conference play. The Lions will head back on the road this Saturday when they face off against SUNY Cobleskill as conference action continues to heat up.
Click below for post game comments from Kiara Carter, Emilee Truitt, and Diandra Soto.
