Story courtesy of Stephen Colwell

YORK - The York College womens' basketball team proved they were a worthy opponent at times in Friday night's home game against Haskell University, but Haskell's defense led to points and a 75-61 victory. The loss dropped the YC Panthers to 2-2 in the MCAC conference and to 8-9 on the season.

The Haskell University Indians started the first half with blistering pace and solid interior play by sophomore center Keli Warrior, and the Indians jumped out to a 10-point lead only three minutes into the game. The Lady Panthers, who were undersized in the competition, scraped for rebounds, forced turnovers, and converted free throws to take a 33-32 lead at halftime. Senior guard Cory Minjarez (SR/El Paso, Texas) led the Panthers with 10 first half points and a steal.

The second half started similarly to the first. Haskell ran off six unanswered points before Minjarez hit a three-pointer to start a seven-point run for York. Six minutes into the second half with the game tied at 42-42, the Indians added a full-court press to their defensive scheme, and that proved to make all the difference. The Panther offense was shaken by the press and unable to recover. Haskell put together a 15-4 run to grab a double-digit lead that they held for the majority of the remaining minutes.

Minjarez led the Panthers with 20 points, followed by Doreen Lopez (SR/Pico Rivera, Calif) pouring in 12. MacKenzie Eller (SO/Orlando, Fla) added 9 points to go along with her 7 rebounds and 6 assists.

Coach Matthew Madole said, "We played a tough opponent tonight. We had some schemes drawn up but weren't able to execute the way we wanted to. They put pressure on us in the second half and it frazzled us. We needed to be better than we were against a time that outsized us like Haskell did."

The Lady Panthers are back in action Saturday at the Freeman Center with a 3 p.m. start against Oklahoma Wesleyan University.