LOCK HAVEN, Pa. – The LHU women's basketball team (8-7, 5-5 PSAC) were defeated by the West Chester Golden Rams (6-9, 4-6 PSAC) 76-69 on Wednesday night at Thomas Fieldhouse in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) East action.

The early minutes of the game were tight, as West Chester and Lock Haven exchanged the lead back and forth. The Golden Rams began to pull away near the halfway point of the quarter, holding a slim 22-18 lead after one. LHU came out hard in the second, erasing the deficit in the second quarter to tie it at 32 with just over three minutes left. The Bald Eagles continued the offensive push, taking over the lead as they went in to the half with a 39-36 advantage.

Lock Haven held steady in the third, pushing their lead to nine points before the Golden Rams fought back to narrow the deficit to five as the teams headed in to the final quarter. West Chester erased the Bald Eagles lead in the beginning of the fourth, tying it at 55 with 9:42 left in the game. Both teams battled for the lead in the following minutes, but the Golden Rams eventually came out on top, holding on to the advantage for the rest of the game and taking the 76-69 victory.  

Freshman Marena Lonardi (Elizabethtown, Pa./Elizabethtown) led the Bald Eagles with 19 points, while Rileigh Devine (Etters, Pa./Red Land) added 18. Both shooters went perfect from the free throw stripe as Devine increased her PSAC-leading free throw percentage to .922, which is also good for fifth in the nation.

Jaynelle Robinson (Williamsport, Pa./Williamsport (Monroe CC)) recorded a game-high 13 rebounds, her eighth double-digit rebound performance of the season. Robinson continues to lead the PSAC in boards this season with 165 (11.0/game), and sits seventh in the nation in rebounds.

As a team, the Bald Eagles went for 12-13 (.923) from the free throw line, their best mark this season, and notched 32 points in the paint.

UP NEXT // SCHEDULE UPDATE: The Bald Eagles will now return to action on Friday, January 17 at 5:30 p.m. at Bloomsburg University. Please note, the game was originally scheduled for Saturday, but has been moved up to Friday because of the heavy snow in the forecast Saturday.