MANSFIELD – Freshman Bella Skatell went 5-of-5 from 3-point land to lead the Mansfield University women's basketball team, which fell to PSAC East leading Shippensburg University, 73-62 on Saturday, Feb. 8 inside Decker Gymnasium.
 
Skatell did not miss a shot in the contest, finishing with a career-high 17 points on 6-of-6 shooting. Junior Paige Whitfield added 14 points, four rebounds and three assists on the afternoon. Freshman Jasmine Hilton hauled in nine rebounds and netted eight points.
 
The Mounties defense was the story as they did not allow a run greater than six in the contest and held the PSAC East leading Raiders to 23 percent shooting in the first quarter and 33 percent shooting in the fourth.
 
Hilton scored the opening basket and the Mounties' (3-20, 1-16 PSAC East) defense limited the league-leading Raiders (16-7, 12-4 PSAC East) to just one point through the first 4:13 of play. After a back-and-fourth opening six minutes the Raiders took a 7-6 lead at the 3:02 mark and closed the quarter out by going 4-of-4 at the line to take a 12-8 lead into the second.
 
The Raiders extended their lead in the second thanks to 50 percent shooting from the floor (7-of-14) and from three (2-of-4) and did not miss at the foul line (4-of-4). A 5-0 run gave the Raiders an 18-11 lead, before back-to-back baskets from Hilson and Whitfield cut the Mounties deficit to three with 3:35 to go. However, that is as close as the Mounties could get in the half as Shippensburg built their lead back to 12 before Skatell's first three sent the game to the break with the Raiders leading, 32-23.
 
Although Shippensburg outscored the Mounties 24-to-20 in the third quarter, Skatell took the final five minutes by storm, shooting four of her five 3-pointers (5-for-5).
 
Skatell opened the fourth with her fifth trifecta of the night and the Mounties outscored the Raiders, 19-17 in the quarter. Whitfield followed Skatell with a jumper of her own, kick-starting a 9-2 run over three minutes to cut the deficit to four. However, the comeback fell short with Shippensburg's Ariel Jones scoring all 11 points in an 11-4 run to close out the game.
 
The 7^th-ranked scorer in the country, Ariel Jones, had 36 points on the afternoon, shooting 65% (11-for-17) from the field.
 
The Mounties are back in action next week when they head to Bloomsburg University on Wednesday, Feb. 12 for a 5:30 p.m. tip-off.