ERIE — Senior Ariel Jones (Lebanon/Cedar Crest) tied the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) single-game scoring record and broke a school record with a career-high 48 points on Sunday afternoon, pacing the Shippensburg University women’s basketball team to an 85-71 win at Mercyhurst at Owen McCormick Court.
Jones surpassed Lauren Beckley’s school record of 47 points set on Feb. 13, 2008 and tied Millersville’s Terri Gunder conference record of 48 points set against Rowan in 1971. It is the most points scored by a woman in a Division II game in more than two years, since Drury’s Hailey Diestelkamp scored 53 points against Rockhurst on Feb. 29, 2020.
“She was fire today, and I knew at some point in her career she had a chance to break that single-game scoring record held by Lauren Beckley,” head coach Kristy Trn said. “Probably by halftime, when I looked at her totals, I knew this could be the day.”
Shippensburg held Mercyhurst scoreless in the first quarter, leading 19-0 after the opening 10 minutes. It is the first time ever in Raider history that an opponent was held scoreless in a quarter.
SU never lost the lead and benefited from nine early Laker turnovers. In the second quarter, Mercyhurst (5-4, 1-2) finally got on the board and even outscored Shippensburg, 31-20. The Raiders answered back in the second half with a 57-percent shooting from the field, and a 5-of-7 clip from beyond the arc in the fourth quarter helped the Raiders take away the victory.
The Raiders could not duplicate their success Monday night in the second game of the two-game Erie road swing, falling to a 10-2 Gannon University team, 65-48.
Jones’ scoring fell off to eight points, and the Raiders shot only 26 percent from the field and made only one three-point shot in 15 attempts. Treasure George (Harrisburg/Bishop McDevitt) led SU scorers with 13 points.
The Raiders now have a record of 8-2 overall and 3-1 in the PSAC. Their next game is at home against Clarion on Dec. 30. Game time is 6 p.m.
