MANSFIELD – The Mansfield Mountaineers battled Shippensburg, but dropped a 75-65 decision on Saturday, February 23 at Decker Gymnasium.
 
Sophomore Mia Leonard entered the contest needing eight blocks to tie Deb Gmys for the single-season blocks record at Mansfield University (68 blocks in 1988-1989).  In the previous three games, Leonard had just two blocks total. On Saturday against the Raiders, she amassed eight blocks to tie Gmys' record.
 
In the final minute of the contest, Leonard was reinserted into the game and recorded the record-setting block with just four seconds left on the game clock. Leonard now has 69 blocks this season, which ranks first in the conference and 13^th across the Nation. She also scored eight points and grabbed three rebounds, which was the first time in 21 games that she didn't have at least five boards.  
 
Mansfield outshot Shippensburg from the field and 3-point land.  Erin Gibbons and Paige Whitfield led the team, combining for nine 3-pointers, and helping the Mounties to shoot 45.8% from beyond the arc.  Whitfield was an impressive 5-for-7 from three en route to scoring 20 points on the day.  Her 20 points and five 3-pointers are now career-highs.  The sophomore from Altoona also dished out three assists and grabbed four rebounds. Gibbons scored 18 points to go with four assists.
 
Freshmen Ellie Thompson and Sydney Reed combined for 10 points, six assists, six steals, and eight rebounds.  In her season-high 10 minutes of action, Hanna Johnson scored two points and tallied two rebounds.
 
Both teams committed 24 turnovers, but Shippensburg proved to be too much under the hoop, outrebounding the Mounties 51-27.  The Raiders grabbed 22 offensive boards, and scored 16 second chance points as well as 32 points off of turnovers.
 
In Saturday's game, Mansfield's Mia Leonard and Shippensburg's Lauren Pettis and Kryshell Gordy became just the fourth, fifth, and sixth players across the PSAC to score 200+ points and collect 200+ rebounds this season.
 
Shippensburg's Ariel Jones entered the contest as the PSAC leading scorer and second in the Nation with 26.3 points per game. Mansfield held her to just 16 points on the day, her second-lowest point total on the year. Indiana allowed only 10 points to the sophomore 1,000-point scorer at the beginning of December.
 
Kryshell Gordy was the star of the day however, scoring 21 points and snagging 17 rebounds for the Raiders. She scored 13 of her points in the first half. Lauren Mills contributed another 18 points, but accounted for a game-high six turnovers.

Senior McKenzie Hatch was honored prior to the game. Before a season-ending injury sidelined the redshirt senior, Hatch topped her career-best numbers across the board in 2018-2019.  Against Salem in November, the Altoona native brought down nine rebounds and scored 11 points. Days later, she again topped her scoring high with a 14 point performance to go along with five rebounds and seven assists. For a majority of her 2018-2019 campaign, Hatch ranked among the Top-10 in the conference in assists.  

Mansfield is on the road, playing Bloomsburg this Wednesday.