SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. – The Shippensburg University women's basketball team cut a 21-point second-half lead to five on Friday, but was unable to complete the comeback, dropping its season opener to Johnson C. Smith, 73-67, from Heiges Field House.
 
Junior Stephanie Knauer scored a team-high 20 points and tallied nine rebounds while sophomore Morgan Griffith collected nine points and nine rebounds.
 
Sophomore Lauren Gold contributed 11 points, five steals and four assists, including a 9-of-11 performance at the free-throw line.
 
Shippensburg (0-1) went on a 21-5 run in the second half that began at the 8:58 mark and ended with 4:03 remaining. The comeback was due in large part to the full-court pressure which was able to force seven turnovers during the span.
 
The Raiders forced a total of 30 turnovers but were unable to capitalize, shooting 20-of-67 (32.3 percent) from the field. The team forced at least 30 turnovers just one time in last year's campaign, when it forced 33 in a 107-65 victory at Mansfield.
 
Johnson C. Smith (1-0) held a 44-15 advantage in bench scoring, and a 43-39 edge in rebounds.
 
Despite ranking second in the PSAC in free-throw percentage (77.6 percent) last season, the charity stripe was unkind in the 2014-15 debut, as the team shot just 22-of-34 (64.7 percent).
 
Freshman Vicky Tumasz netted 12 points in her collegiate debut while sophomore Colleen Young contributed nine points and four rebounds in her first start for the Raiders.
 
The Raiders return to action Saturday to take on Bowie State at 6 p.m. in their final game of the 2014 Wolf's Bus Lines Classic.