Seton Hill opened their 2024-25 season in the PSAC/MEC Challenge at Lock Haven on Friday evening as they took on #7 Fairmont State.
The Griffins outscored Fairmont State 68-50 over the final three quarters as they opened the season with a 77-73 upset win over the seventh ranked Falcons.
Fairmont State jumped out to a 16-4 lead over the Griffins midway through the first quarter.
Hallie Cowan hit a three pointer to trim the deficit back to single digits. SHU trailed 20-9 at the end of the first quarter.
After Fairmont hit a three to open the second quarter, the Griffins went on an 8-0 run to trim the lead to 23-17 with 7:09 to play in the half. Four straight layups from
Sakeria Haralson,
Mia Kalich,
Abby Mankins and
Hallie Cowan over a 1:33 stretch helped SHU trim the lead. The Falcons pushed their lead to 29-20 before a Mankins layup and four
Helene Cowan free throws cut the lead to 31-26 with 1:38 to play.
Helene Cowan hit two more free throws at the end of the half to trim the lead to 31-28 at the break.
The Falcons pushed their lead back to 39-30 with seven minutes left in the third quarter. A
Christiane Frye free throw,
Helene Cowan basket and
Paula Llovich bucket trimmed the lead back to 39-35 with five minutes left. A three pointer from
Hallie Cowan and a basket from
Shaye Bailey cut the lead to 46-45 with 2:05 left. SHU tied the game at 49 on a layup from
Mia Kalich.
Three pointers from Helene and
Hallie Cowan gave SHU their first lead of the game 57-55 with less than eight minutes to play in the contest. Fairmont pushed the lead back to 66-61 before
Helene Cowan hit a three and Kalich made a layup to tie the score at 66 with 4:14 left. Four straight points from Frye extended the SHU lead to 70-67 with 3:17 to play.
Helene Cowan hit a pair of free throws to extend the lead to 74-69 with 2:16 to play. Frye hit one of two free throws to extend the lead to 75-69 with 36 seconds to play.
Helene Cowan led SHU with 19 points. Frye finished with 14 and
Hallie Cowan added 13. Mankins just missed double figures with nine points. Kalich added nine rebounds and seven steals.
SHU will continue play in Lock Haven on Saturday when they play Concord.
