SRU basketball getting close
SLIPPERY ROCK — You can't blame the East Stroudsburg University women's basketball team if it wants to get back to the eastern side of the state as soon as possible.
A night after suffering their first loss of the season — a 69-54 setback at Edinboro — the defending PSAC-East champion Warriors were forced to sweat out a nail-biter at Slippery Rock University's Morrow Field House on Wednesday.
Trailing The Rock 35-33 at halftime, East Stroudsburg shot 59.3 percent (16-of-27) from the field in the final 20 minutes to grab a 72-67 victory.
The Warriors made it a clean sweep when the men's team beat Slippery Rock, 68-54, in the second game of the doubleheader.
Though SRU's women last led their game with 15:39 left in the second half (43-41), they had pulled to within 70-67 after junior forward KellyAnn Staudinger's two-point bucket with 7.9 seconds left in the game. The Warriors' attempt to inbound the ball after Staudinger's score led to the team's 20th turnover of the game.
The Rock (3-6) got the ball to sophomore guard Amanda Nero, whose 3-point attempt that would have tied the game sailed long. The Warriors added two free throws from senior Alyssa Antolick to close out the scoring.
"You have to make plays when the game is on the line," said SRU coach Laurel Heilman after watching her team make just two field goals in the final 5:47 of the game.
"In a close game like this, it's never one play that makes the difference," she added. "It's a lot of little things."
The Rock (3-6) opened the game with a 7-0 run. East Stroudsburg's first and only lead of the first half lasted just 14 seconds at 28-26 shortly before halftime.
"(ESU) is a team that likes to make you pay for your mistakes," Heilman said. "But we did a good job limiting their transition game."
Antolick scored 18 of her 23 points in the first half to keep the Warriors (7-1) close. She was a perfect 7-of-7 from the field during the game, including four 3-pointers.
"She was an All-American at Division III De Sales University," said Warriors' coach Juliene Simpson. "But this was her first big game for us."
In fact, it was the first time Antolick had ever played more than 20 minutes in a Division II game.
The only thing greater than her performance on the court was her modesty after it was over.
"I got really, really lucky tonight," said Antolick. "I had a lot of help from my teammates."
Nikki Presto, who led SRU with 20 points, drained a pair of 3-pointers 48 seconds apart to cut the Warriors' lead to 56-53 with 9:19 left in the game.
Complementing Presto's play, The Rock featured three other players with 10 points each — Dana Stewart, Chere' Marshall and Nero.
"We had four players score in double figures tonight," Heilman said. "When's the last time that happened?
"It was a great game to play in, to coach and to watch," she added. "It was a physical game, but the officials let them play. I'd rather have it that way than have every little touch foul called. Our players showed a lot of heart tonight."
SRU (3-8) proved to be a stubborn opponent for East Stroudsburg (7-2).The game was tied 29-29 at halftime.With 13:10 left in the game, the Warriors' lead was just 37-35. But the team then went on a 13-2 run in the next 4:30 to make it 50-37.The Rock cut the deficit back to eight points several times, but East Stroudsburg won the game going away.The defeat spoiled SRU senior Glenn Reepmeyer's double-double of 12 points and 17 rebounds.Reepmeyer had 13 defensive boards in the game. Nobody else had more than four.Junior guard Kenny Smith led SRU with 14 points.Josh Wentz paced the Warriors with 21 points, including 14 in the first half.<B>Women's BoxscoreEAST STROUDSBURG 72Melanie Villano 1 0-0 2, Maryellen Onofre 3 1-2 8, Jackie Yandrisevits 7 2-2 16, Monika Fogelsanger 4 0-0 11, Jhazmin Brown 5 0-2 10, Alyssa Antolick 7 5-6 23, DeAnna Rayam 0 2-2 2, Kelly Wellman 0 0-0 0, Sheila Gallagher 0 0-0 0, Keri Cahill 0 0-0 0, Alexa Detzi 0 0-0 0, Amy Jones 0 0-0 0.</B> Totals: 27 10-14 72.<B>SLIPPERY ROCK 67Nikki Presto 7 2-2 20, Dana Stewart 4 2-3 10, Chere' Marshall 5 0-0 10, KellyAnn Staudinger 3 2-2 8, Amanda Nero 3 2-3 10, Amanda Chojnacki 2 3-4 7, Nijha McNeely 0 2-2 2, Alissa Schake 0 0-0 0, Kara Spagnola 0 0-0 0, Amanda Kaufman 0 0-0 0.</B> Totals: 24 13-16 67.<B>East Stroudsburg 33 39—72Slippery Rock 35 32—673-point goals:</B> ESU 8 (Antolick 4, Fogelsanger 3, Onofre); SRU 6 (Presto 4, Nero 2)<B>Jan. 2-3: </B>SRU @ Fairmont State (W. Va.) Tournament<B>Men's BoxscoreEAST STROUDSBURG 68Justin Scott 0 1-4 1, Murvin English 4 2-2 11, Josh Wentz 9 0-0 21, Channon Easley 3 2-4 8, Ryan Sweet 3 2-2 8, Ron Louis 3 0-0 6, Darron Bradley 2 5-7 9, Chris Bach 1 2-2 4, Andy Heimbach 0 0-0 0, Jeff Graves 0 0-0 0, Jimmy Evans 0 0-0 0.</B> Totals: 25 14-22 68.<B>SLIPPERY ROCK 54Matt Schaefer 1 0-0 2, Jamar Scales 3 0-0 6, Kenny Smith 4 5-6 14, Troy Yonkers 3 0-0 6, Glenn Reepmeyer 6 0-1 12, Brian Campuzano 0 1-2 1, Brandon Thompson 1 0-0 2, Joe Vines 0 1-2 1, Erroll Robinson 4 1-3 10, Joe Marzullo 0 0-0 0.</B> Totals: 22 8-14 54.<B>East Stroudsburg 29 39—68Slippery Rock 29 25—543-point goals:</B> ESU 4 (Wentz 3, English); SRU 2 (Robinson, Smith)<B>Dec. 30: </B>SRU @ Mercyhurst College
