By Maggie Samole / Staff writer

Four players scored in double figures, as the women’s basketball team edged the Juniata College Eagles 67-64 on Saturday in the Lady Bobcats’ (3-1) home opener.

The Bobcats and Eagles were deadlocked at 36 points apiece at halftime. The lead seesawed back and forth between the teams during the second half until sophomore forward Kelsey Wilcox tied the game at 64 with a put-back with 74 seconds to go. Junior guard Nicole Reiser clinched the game for UPG 30 seconds later by blocking a shot and going coast-to-coast with the rebound.

Head coach Carol Gelet said she knew the game would be a tough one for her young team.

“We knew Juniata was a very good fundamental team,” Gelet said. “We knew it would be a scrap fight.”

Reiser echoed her coach’s sentiments.

“We knew it would be tough,” Reiser said. “But we felt we could play with them and beat them. We played hard from start to finish.”

Stymied by poor foul shooting and sinking only two three-point field goals all game, the Bobcats’ offense struggled at times. Head Coach Carol Gelet attributed the team’s poor showing at the charity stripe to exhaustion.

“When you only play eight players, they get tired,” Gelet said. “If we had hit them down the stretch, we could have put the game away with about six minutes left instead of in the last minute.”

Gelet said she thinks that for as many underclassmen as are on the team, this year’s team is doing rather well.

“Seven of our underclassmen have one year under their belts, which helps,” Gelet said. “There’s a necessary level of commitment to be a good team this year. They’ve decided that mediocrity isn’t an option.”

“In September, we thought the team would probably just be OK,” she said. “But during cross country, as their times went down and their confidence increased, we knew we had something good.”

Game notes

Guard Amanda Sheaffer played a solid all-around game and scored a game high 17 points. She also tallied seven rebounds, four assists, two steals and one block in the game. Guards Tiffany Menhorn (13 points) and Nicole Reiser (10 points) and forward Kelsey Wilcox (16 points) also reached double figures. Wilcox also added a game-high 12 rebounds for her second double-double of the season.