HUNTINGDON, Pa. – Chatham Women's Basketball (7-3, 0-2 PAC) came back from the holiday break with a comfortable 80-63 victory over Juniata (1-9, 0-4 LANDMARK) on Tuesday night to wrap up their non-conference portion of the 2025-26 campaign.

Senior Alyssa Laukus made 9 of her 10 field goals, scoring a game-high 25 points for the Cougars. Senior Madison Nereu recorded a double-double with 20 points and a game-high 10 rebounds along with a game-high 4 assists. Senior Hannah Chenault scored 12 points, and graduate student Jordyn Jensen had 4 points with a game-high 4 steals for Chatham.

The first half began with a 9-2 Cougar run with 4 points scored by Nereu. Emily Venick and Hannah Stephanites made layups to put Chatham up 13-5, then Erica Olszewski's layup gave the Cougars a 20-11 advantage just before the first quarter ended. The Eagles would pull within a point in the second quarter, but back-to-back Laukus layups kickstarted a 10-2 Chatham run that gave the Cougars a 37-29 lead at the intermission.

A couple of Nereu layups to begin the second half put Chatham ahead 43-29. The Cougars would maintain an 8-point lead by the end of the third, and an 8-2 run to start the fourth would make the score 60-46. Chatham extended its advantage to as much as 16, with Laukus and Nereu continuing to convert on offense. Laukus would knock down six free throws in the final four minutes to secure the Cougars' 17-point victory.

Chatham shot an impressive 55.6 percent from the floor (25-45), its highest percentage since Nov. 29, 2023, and held Juniata to just 39.6 percent. The Cougars tied a program record by knocking down 27 of their 33 free throw attempts, their most made free throws in a game since Nov. 18, 2016.
 
Women's Basketball will resume their PAC schedule on Wednesday, Jan. 7 at the Athletic and Fitness Center, where they'll host Waynesburg at 5 p.m.