WASHINGTON, D.C. — The 16th ranked Catholic women's basketball team looked to continue to roll in conference play and returned to
Franny Murray Court to take on Juniata. After a closely contested first half, a 12-0 run to kick off the third quarter gave the Cardinals the momentum they needed to take care of business in the second half and knock off the Eagles 90-74 to improve their record to 13-1 on the season and 6-1 in Landmark play.
After both teams traded buckets in the first four minutes of the game to have things all even at eight, Juniata went on a 10-2 run where they went 4-for-5 from the lead to put Catholic down 18-10 early. Haily Sherman was the driving force for the Eagles offense in the quarter, scoring nine points in the frame.
Amelia Kennedy came up big off the bench for the Cardinals, scoring seven straight points including knocking down a three, followed by a bucket from
Alexa Kenah with 16 seconds left in the quarter to pull the Cardinals within one at 20-19 going into the second.
After
Anna Scoblick knotted things up at 23 with a layup,
Kerry Flaherty and
Keegan Douglas drained three's on back-to-back possessions for Catholic to get out to a six point advantage. The Cardinals had their most productive offensive quarter in the second, shooting 10-for-15 (67%) while also going 3-for-6 from downtown. Catholic extended the lead to nine with 4:11 remaining in the half, but Juniata was able to trim it back down to five after Deja Gillo knocked down a pair of free throws before the half to send the game into the break at 42-37.
Douglas kicked off an eventual 12-0 run to open up the third for the Cardinals, capped off by Flaherty connecting on another three which gave Catholic its largest lead of the game at the time of 17. The Eagles also had its most inefficient quarter on offense in the third, shooting just 3-for-11 (27%) which allowed the Cardinals to take an 18 point lead into the final quarter.
The Cardinals continued their offensive prowess into the final quarter and Kennedy started things off by opening up the largest lead of the game on a lay-in to put Catholic up 70-50. Juniata managed to get the game back within 12, but Catholic went on 19-2 run to put the final touches on a win, spurred by threes made by
Sofia Travieso and Flaherty. The Cardinals finished with 90+ points for the second time this season en route to their 90-74 win over Juniata to push their win streak to 10 games.
Catholic received a huge boost from its bench in the game as 37 points came from the depth players for the squad. The Cardinals finished shooting a season-high 58% (38-for-66) from the field and have now had their three highest team field goal percentages in the last three games.
Scoblick finished just one rebound shy of a double-double with a team leading 21 points and nine rebounds while shooting 10-for-15 from the floor. It was her third 20+ point game of the season and the fifth of her career. Flaherty came in behind her with 16 points, 12 of which came from three-point range. Kennedy and Travieso both finished in double figures with 15 and 10 points respectively off the bench. Travieso reached double-digit points for the first time in her career.
The 10 game win streak marks just the third time in the last 10 seasons that Catholic has gone on a 10 game win streak. During the streak the Cardinals have outscored their opponents by an average of 28.2 points per game.
Next up for the Cardinals is a top 20 matchup against third-ranked Scranton at the John Long Center on Saturday, January 25. Tip off is set for 2 pm as Catholic looks to move into first place in the Landmark standings.
