SELINSGROVE, Pa. – A high-scoring game allowed the Susquehanna women's basketball team to defeat Juniata 88-81 at home on Wednesday night.

Five Crusaders were in double digit points with Angie Schedler leading with 22. Nikki Komara followed with 19 while Courtney Adams, Sofie Schedler and Lexi Biggs-Garcia contributed 16, 14 and 11, respectively. Sofie Schedler tallied nine assists, as well.

SU shot 53.1 percent from the field and 52.9 percent behind the arc and went 11-13 (87.6 percent) from the free throw line. The Crusader defense forced 18 Eagles turnovers.

Three-pointers dominated the first quarter as the Crusaders (13-5, 6-4) took a four-point lead (22-18) into the second quarter, 12 of those points were from treys. The Eagles (7-14, 2-10) took an early 8-3 lead at the 7:37 mark but SU tied it at eight with a three from Angie Schedler followed by a layup from Sofie Schedler with 6:38 on the clock. With 4:12 remaining in the quarter, the game was again tied but Susquehanna proceeded to go on 12-8 run to end the quarter.

The second quarter had both teams trading baskets back and forth as the game was tied three times within the first four minutes of action. At the 6:43 mark Adams broke the third tie to give the Crusaders the slight two point lead on a jumper off an assist from Komara. SU increased its lead to four (34-30) on two free throws from Gault with 5:31 on the clock. However, just over a minute later the game was tied once again as Juniata's Katy Leamer made a jump shot (34-34).

Gault put the Crusaders ahead by two (36-34) on a layup with four minutes remaining in the half but the Eagles tied it at 36 with 2:59 on the clock. At this point Juniata went on a 6-2 run to take a four point lead (42-38) into halftime.

Komara opened the second half by scoring a layup 13 seconds into the third quarter to bring SU to within two (42-40). A seven-point Juniata run saw the Eagles up their lead to nine (49-40) with 8:07 remaining in the quarter. The Crusaders however, jumped ahead by seven on an 18-9 run (58-51) ending with a Komara three pointer.

The Eagles cut the lead to one at the 2:51 mark on a Leamer layup and took the lead 60-58 with 1:35 remaining in the quarter only for the Crusaders to take the lead back on a layup followed by a three-pointer from Angie Schedler (63-60) with less than a minute on the clock. Juniata's Dani Atkinson brought the Eagles to within one (63-62) on two free throws but it was not enough as SU ended the quarter ahead 63-62.

The beginning of the fourth quarter saw both teams trading baskets back until Susquehanna took a decisive six point lead (77-71) off of a Sofie Schedler trey with 4:30 remaining in the game. From this point on, the Crusaders did not let the Eagles get any closer two points and that came with 51 seconds on the clock (83-81) and SU proceeded to go on a 5-0 run to win the game 88-81.

Susquehanna returns to action on Saturday, Feb. 6 when they travel to Landmark Conference opponent Moravian for a 4:00 p.m. game.