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WILKES-BARRE — For about three-and-a-half quarters on Saturday, the Wilkes defense had Juniata completely stonewalled.
When a lapse came and let the Eagles claw back into the ballgame, the Colonels were able to find enough offense to ride it out.
Wilkes withstood a 16-4 third-quarter run and pulled away late, snapping a four-game skid with a 63-47 win over Juniata at the Marts Center.
Outside of that one stretch, about five minutes in the third quarter, the Colonels defense gave Juniata fits: the Eagles shot just under 26% from the floor, and Wilkes forced 22 turnovers and had 15 steals.
“I thought it was an exceptional defensive effort,” Wilkes coach Al Berger said. “That’s kind of like our trademark, that’s who we want to be, a solid defensive team and we did that tonight.”
The poor shooting night for Juniata stood out even more when factoring in that the Eagles managed to pull down 28 offensive rebounds, meaning the Colonels were often playing two or three defensive possessions on a single trip.
After much of the opening quarter was played essentially to a stalemate, Wilkes was able to seize momentum at the end of the quarter.
With an 11-7 Wilkes lead, Emma Stout knocked down a three-pointer and drew the foul in the final seconds of the quarter. She missed the free throw, but the Colonels got control of the loose ball and it found its way to Stout, who hit a floater as time expired to stretch the lead to 16-7 in favor of the Colonels.
Stout would hit a three in the opening minutes of the next quarter, and ended up finishing her night with eight points all scored in a window of about four minutes or so.
Wilkes took a nine-point lead into halftime, and expanded it to as many as 16 points midway through the third quarter. The Eagles finally found some offense after a timeout, and a 16-4 run to the end of the quarter cut the lead to just three points.
The Colonels needed some buckets, and stepping up was Yamirelis Matos, the team’s leading scorer who had scored just two points heading into the final 10 minutes.
She came out firing, using a good dribble-drive to get to the hoop and finish through contact. Matos ended up scoring 10 points in the fourth quarter, giving her 12 on the night.
“(Matos) brings so much to our team than just points. … Even when she was struggling to score, she was locked in on the defensive end and rebounding,” Berger said. “She’s always going to find a way to get going, it’s just a matter of time.”
Juniata didn’t have an answer, and the Wilkes defense reasserted itself down the other end, holding the Eagles to just 10 points in the final quarter.
Matos’ 12 tied with Erin Shober for the team lead. Stout, Julia Marino, Taylor Simpson and Brenna Babcock all had eight points — while Babcock also had nine rebounds and a game-high six steals.
“(Babcock) is so versatile and does so many things for us, it makes our defense go,” Berger said.
Wilkes improves to 5-4 overall with the win, and 1-3 in the Landmark Conference. The win was Wilkes’s first ever as a member of the Landmark.
The Colonels will be back in action next Saturday, hitting the road to take on Delaware Valley.
EASTERN 55, MISERICORDIA 45
The Eagles used a 12-0 run over a six-minute span of the fourth quarter to break a 39-39 tie at the Anderson Center.
Alyssa Bondi led the Cougars with 16 points while Skylar Bianchi had 13 points and a team-high seven rebounds.
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
Wilkes 63, Juniata 47
WILKES (63) — Shober 6 0-0 12, Marino 2 4-7 8, Babcock 3 2-4 8, Matos 6 0-0 12, Simpson 3 1-2 8, Askins 2 0-2 5, Robel 1 0-0 2, Stout 3 0-1 8, Holden 0 0-0 0, Edwards 0 0-0 0. Totals 26 7-16 63
JUNIATA (47) — Sherman 3 1-4 7, Coolidge 0 1-2 1, Miller 0 0-0 0, Berg 0 2-4 2, Bodtorf 6 0-0 13, Emert 2 0-0 5, Gillo 1 0-0 3, Gerdich 3 2-2 8, Betts 1 2-3 4, McCann 1 2-2 4, Sauer 0 0-0 0, Eisenberg 0 0-0 0. Totals 17 10-17 43
Juniata`7`10`20`10 — 47
Wilkes`16`10`14`23 — 63
Three-point goals: JUN 3 (Bodtorf, Emert, Gillo), WIL 4 (Stout 2, Simpson, Askins).