Bucknell Sends Women’s Basketball to League Loss

Saturday, January 2

Lewisburg, Pa.

2 PM

Army West Point

10-2, 1-1PL

Bucknell

8-5, 2-0PL

Army West Point

Bucknell

Bucknell Sends Women’s Basketball to League Loss

January 02, 2016 | Women's Basketball

Box Score

LEWISBURG, Pa. – The Army West Point women's basketball team closed a 13-point deficit to two early in the fourth quarter, but was unable to come all the way back in an eventual 79-69 setback at Bucknell during Patriot League action on Saturday afternoon at Sojka Pavilion.

The loss snaps Army's seven-game winning streak to sends the Black Knights to 10-2 overall and 1-1 in the conference. Bucknell wins its second in a row to improve to 8-5 and 2-0.

Senior Kelsey Minato led all scorers with a season-high 35 points on 16-of-26 shooting to move into second on the Patriot League's career scoring list with 2,096 points. Minato also added five assists, while senior Aimee Oertner and sophomore Janae McNeal each finished with 10 points and five rebounds. Oertner matched her career-high with six blocked shots and became the team's career blocked shots leader, with 224 blocks, passing Erin Anthony's (USMA '11) previous record of 222. Senior Jean Parker netted eight points and collected a career-best 10 boards.

Claire DeBoer paced four double-digit scorers for Bucknell with 22 points on 7-of-12 shooting, while Kaitlyn Slagus and Jacquie Klotz recorded 21 points and 20 points, respectively. Kyi English finished with 10 points off the bench.

Oertner gave Army a 2-0 lead with a lay-up 34 seconds into the contest, but Bucknell scored 10 of the game's next 14 points to move out to a 10-6 advantage by the 5:15 mark of the first period. Klotz and Slagus each hit three-pointers for the Bison during the stretch.

Minato drained a three at the 4:49 mark to make the score 10-9 before answering for the Black Knights on the next two trips down the floor to keep the visitors within a point. DeBoer and Slagus converted consecutive lay-ins for Bucknell to push the lead to 20-14 before Army scored the final four points of the first frame, including a lay-up by Minato at the first quarter buzzer after retrieving her own rebound to make the score 20-18.

Bucknell scored the first four points of the second period to boost its advantage to six points before Klotz knocked in a three-pointer with 3:57 left in the first half to cap a 13-4 run and put the Bison up, 33-22.

Minato made a lay-up with 4:53 on the clock in the second quarter for her 18th point of the afternoon, which moved her to 2,079 career points and into second place on the Patriot League's all-time scoring list.

Minato and Oertner each scored two points in the final 3:37 of the opening half, as Army entered the locker room down 36-26.

The Black Knights cut their deficit to single digits on a pair of occasions early in the third quarter, but the Bison used a 7-3 run to climb out to a 13-point lead, 48-35, by the 3:41 mark.

A three-pointer from senior Brianna Johnson and a jumper by Minato brought the visitors back to within eight points before McNeal made a lay-in to make the score 50-44. Bucknell tallied the final four points of the period to control a 54-44 lead at the end of three.

DeBoer made a short jumper 38 ticks into the fourth quarter to extend the Bison lead to 12, but consecutive triples by Parker, at 9:12 and 8:36, kicked off a 10-0 Black Knights' run to make the score 56-54 to force a Bucknell timeout with 7:57 remaining in the period.

Slagus and McNeal traded lay-ups on each team's next possession to keep the game at the two-point margin before English buried her second straight three to cap a 9-2 run by the Bison with 5:01 on the clock, making the score 67-58.

Minato made a lay-up with 52 seconds remaining in the contest to bring the Black Knights back to within seven points, 74-67, but that was as close as Army would come in the 10-point setback.

Army closes out its road swing with a matchup at Lafayette on Wednesday, Jan. 6 at 7 p.m.

GAME NOTES: Army drops to 24-33 all-time versus Bucknell … the setback snaps the Black Knights' seven-game winning streak … Minato netted a season-best 35 points …. Minato's 35-point effort moved her into second place on the Patriot League's career scoring list, as she moved to 2,096 career points and passed 1999 Holy Cross graduate Amy O'Brien's mark of 2,077 ... Oertner registered a career-high-tying six blocks to reach 224 for her career and pass Erin Anthony's (USMA '11) previous record of 222.