SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. – The Shippensburg University women's basketball team got a double-double Saturday from sophomore Morgan Griffith but could not complete a comeback against PSAC West foe Edinboro, dropping a 69-62 decision to the Fighting Scots at Heiges Field House in the final game before the holidays.
 
Shippensburg (6-6, 2-4 PSAC) trailed by as many as 10 points in the first half and by nine points, 49-40, with 11:28 to play. The Raiders used a 10-2 run to get within one point of the lead at the 7:19 mark and ultimately grabbed a one-point lead, 58-57, with 4:44 remaining after freshman center Kristin McGeough connected on the first and only three-point attempt of her young career.
 
Edinboro (8-3, 5-2) immediately countered with a lay-up to re-take the lead before both teams went scoreless for a stretch of more than two-and-a-half minutes. The Fighting Scots hit seven three-pointers in the first half to lead by four points at the intermission, but it was their ninth and final three-pointer from Lauren Hippo (game-high 21 points) that put the visitors up by four with 1:55 remaining.
 
Griffith hit two free throws at 1:34 and made a lay-up with 1:11 to go that got the Raiders within two points of the lead on each occasion, but SU could not ultimately get any closer. She finished with 19 points and 14 rebounds, sank two three-pointers, made 7-of-8 at the free-throw line and had four assists.
 
The Raiders out-rebounded the Fighting Scots, 46-36, with junior Stephanie Knauer and sophomore Colleen Young each contributing six to the cause. McGeough provided a valuable 14 minutes off the bench in Saturday's game, scoring seven points and matching a career high with five rebounds.
 
Redshirt-freshman guard Victoria Blackburn posted double figures for the second time in her career, scoring 11 points on 5-of-9 shooting. Sophomore Lauren Gold had 10 points, and Knauer provided nine.
 
It was free-throw shooting that hamstrung the Raiders on Saturday, as the team finished just 12-of-26 (46.2 percent) at the free-throw line – SU's lowest single-game rate since Dec. 29, 2006. Shippensburg shot just 41.7 percent (5-of-12) in that game, but Lauren Beckley tied a single-game school record with eight three-pointers. (SU defeated Shaw that day in San Diego, 72-58.)  
 
Excluding Griffith's 7-of-8 effort at the charity stripe, the remaining Raiders shot just 5-of-18 (27.7 percent) from the free-throw line. The visitors were 14-of-17 at the free-throw line (82 percent) and shot 45 percent (9-of-20) from three-point range.  
 
Shippensburg returns to action January 3 and 4 with 1 p.m. home games against Mercyhurst and Gannon. SU has three games remaining with Western Division opponents, all of which count toward the team's PSAC divisional record.