PAINESVILLE, Ohio – The Lake Erie College women's basketball team was victorious in their season opener in the GLIAC/G-MAC Challenge over Salem International, 82-57. 

The Storm scored the first five points of the game, with a three pointer by Caryle Garst (Salem, Va. / Salem) and a layup by Kaeding Skelton (Grand Haven, Mich. / Grand Haven) which forced a Salem International timeout.  The Tigers battled back after the timeout with a 9-0 run, to take a 9-5 advantage.  The run was halted when Daija Jones () grabbed an offense rebound and got the put back layup to cut the Salem International lead to 9-7.  The defensive oriented first quarter ended in a dead lock at 9 points apiece.        

The Storm opened the second quarter on 7-0 run to take a 16-11 lead, which forced a timeout by the Tigers.  The run was highlighted by Shelby Carpenter (New Lebanon, Ohio / Miami Valley) who hit a three and also had an assist to Skelton.  The Storm went on an 18-8 run to take a 34-18 advantage before the Tigers took a timeout with a minute remaining in the half to stop the run.  The Storm led at intermission 34-23.  Carpenter led the Storm with nine points at the half, as she was a perfect 3-3 from behind the arc. Sami Narducci (North Royalton, Ohio / North Royalton) wreaked havoc on defense as she had four steals in the half.    

 The third quarter started as a back and forth battle that resulted in a 44-29 lead for the Storm at the media timeout with 4:55 minutes remaining in the third quarter.  Lake Erie maintained their double digit margin and took a 60-43 lead into the fourth quarter.

The Storm pulled away in the fourth quarter with a 13-0 run that stretched the Storm advantage to 74-46.  The Lake Erie run was highlighted by Sophie Sonneman (Jamestown, Ohio / Greenview) as she had five of the 13 points for the Storm.  The Storm maintained their big lead and won 82-57.    

 The Storm was led by Carpenter who was a perfect 4-4 for three point range and had a total of 16 points.  Kayla Gabor (Mentor, Ohio / Mentor) was the second leading scorer with 15, and Skelton and Sonneman each added 10 points for Lake Erie.  The Storm shot 45.7% from the field in the second half, and 42.9% from three point range. 

Lake Erie will be back in action tomorrow when they host Ohio Valley at 3 P.M. in their final game of the GLIAC/G-MAC Challenge.

-LEC-