BOX SCORE

ERIE—The Bloomsburg University women's basketball lost to Mercyhurst College, 75-64, on Sunday in a PSAC (Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference) crossover game.

The Lakers controlled play in the first jumping out to an eight point lead, 11-3, through the first eight and half minutes of play. Bloomsburg answered with a three-pointer from Dana Wieller (Bethlehem, Liberty) and a layup from Hannah Geedey (Lewistown, Lewistown) to cut the deficit to 11-8 with 9:43 to go before halftime.

A few minutes later a bucket by Kayla Oxenrider (Ashland, Tri-Valley) pulled Bloomsburg to within one points, 14-13, at the 6:43 mark. However, the Lakers closed out the half by going on a 17-7 run and went to halftime with an 11-point lead.

Mercyhurst came out and scored the first three points of the second half to lead by 14 before the Huskies caught fire. Bloomsburg outscored the Lakers 16-2 over a four minute stretch to tie the game at 36-36. Oxenrider keyed the rally for Bloomsburg hitting back-to-back three pointers and scoring 10 of the Huskies 16 points.

The Lakers scored the next five points to regain the edge with 14 minutes left to play. That lead would then bounce between one and four points over the next 10 minutes until the Huskies' Lauren Ellis (Bangor, Bangor) scored on a nice inside move to put Bloomsburg on top 57-56 with 4:21 to play. The Lakers though scored four straight to go on top 60-57. Catherine Noack (Bethlehem, Liberty) though hit a three-pointer for Bloomsburg to tie the score at 60-60 with 3:18 to play.

From that point on thought it was all Mercyhurst as the Lakers scored 11 straight points to grab control of the game at 71-60. Wieller hit a late three-pointer and a free throw but it was not enough as the Mercyhurst would hit a couple of free throws in the closing seconds and win by 11.

Mercyhurst, 8-7, was led by Amy Achesinski with 18 points, while Dana Banda added 16. Bloomsburg, now 8-4, was led by Wieller with 17 points, while Oxenrider added 14 points.

Bloomsburg will begin PSAC East play on Wednesday hosting Millersville at the Nelson Field House starting at 5:30 p.m.