Feb 2, 2007 By Kevin Harrison For The 3 min read

CONNELLSVILLE -Connellsville showed it has improved some facets of its game. The Lady Falcons scrapped hard on defense, ran their offense and got several good looks at the basket. However the problem was getting those shots to fall. The cold shooting and not having a favorable match-up against Norwin’s 6-foot-2 center Jennifer Laver resulted in a 77-41 loss by the Lady Falcons to the Lady Knights.

Norwin (15-6, 9-3) just took what was available to it and that was Laver, who finished the night with a game-high 31-points. Teammate Kayla Hilko also made her presence felt, collecting 22 points for the Knights.

The Lady Falcons (3-17, 1-12) had just one player reach double figures with Megan Saylor scoring 12.

“We had four very tough games before this one and I was afraid of a mental letdown coming into this game,” Knights coach Bob Shrader said. “My two seniors, Laver and Hilko, did a great job of keeping the team focused tonight.

“Connellsville has improved since the last time we saw them. It may not show on the scoreboard, but they played us hard defensively, and got a lot of open shots. We’re just glad they didn’t hit three or four in a row, because the three-point line can equalize things and get you back into the game real fast.”

Connellsville took a brief 2-0 lead in the first quarter on a pair of foul shots by Erica Barthlow. Norwin came back to score the next eight points before Saylor scored for Connellsville. Norwin then went on a 16-4 run to close out the quarter with a 24-8 lead. Laver scored 10 in the first quarter to pace the Knights.

The Falcons outscored the Knights 17-16 in the second quarter as Saylor and Elise Michuax each hit three-pointers, and Gabby Carbonara came off the bench to score four points. Laver and Hilko countered that for Norwin with Laver picking up eight more points and Hilko scoring six to give the Knights a 40-25 lead at the half.

“We’ve improved since the beginning of the season, but we need to be more consistent during the game,” Falcons coach Kim Jacobs said. “We got beat off the dribble too many times tonight. We need all five people on the floor to play hard as a unit from the opening tip. They need to believe they can win. When that happens we’ll start to see more good things happening.”

In the third quarter Norwin opened up with a 14-5 run led by Laver with eight points. The Falcons got another three from Briana Brooks and a bucket by Saylor. Norwin went on to out-score the Falcons 19-9 in the quarter with Laver finishing with 10 and Hilko adding six to give the Lady Knights a 59-34 lead after three periods.

The fourth period saw more of the same as Laver scored four more and Hilko dropped in six on a 10-2 Norwin run to increase its lead to 69-36. Timeout was called with about 2:30 left, as the coaches cleared their benches and played the reserves to close out the contest.