Battle for First Kicks off PSUGA Women Second Half
The PSUGA Women's Basketball team starts the second half of their season in a battle for first place when they face PSU-Beaver at 6 p.m. PSUGA is looking for their first win over Beaver since the 2013-2014 season.
McKeesport, PA. – After celebrating the holiday break with their families, it is back to business for the Penn State Greater Allegheny Women’s Basketball Team (6-6, 4-0) on Monday when they take on Penn State Beaver (10-2, 4-0) in a battle for first place in the Penn State University Athletic Conference West Division. PSUGA comes into action on a roll having won four of their last five games averaging 69.6 points per game over that span.
The women are coming off of a 74-69 win over PSU-DuBois on December 15th that helped them keep pace with first place Beaver. It wasn’t smooth sailing early as DuBois jumped out to a 16-10 lead after one quarter of play and continued the momentum heading into halftime with a 31-24 lead. Head coach Chrissy French would have to rally the troops and try and find a way to make a comeback victory if they were to stay perfect in conference play.
After trading the first six points of the third quarter, PSUGA gained their first lead going on a 7-0 run and found themselves ahead 40-38 with 4:24 left in the third. The battle continued throughout the quarter, and PSUGA was able to hold off DuBois leading 49-47 at the end of the quarter.
The final 10 minutes proved to be exciting with the lead changing hands four times throughout the quarter. With just 35 seconds showing on the clock, PSUGA found themselves down 69-67. However, a foul brought Jayla Ellis (Pittsburgh, PA./Woodland Hills HS) to the line and she went 1-2 brining the score to a one-point game. Ellis would give PSUGA the lead for good with a layup with 14 seconds left and PSUGA picked up the 74-69 win keeping them in a tie for the top spot in the division.
Sophomore Tina Clybourn (Pittsburgh, PA./Brashear HS) continued her strong season leading the way with 21 points and hitting five three-pointers while Ellis finished with 14 points in the win. It marked the third straight game where PSUGA scored 74 or more points as the women showed their highest offensive production of the season.
PSU-Beaver enters Monday’s contest having dropped their last game to Bethany College on December 17th 75-61. Diamond Thomas and Cheyenne Lopez scored 11 points each to lead the way for Beaver, but it wasn’t enough as Bethany’s 27-point third quarter attack was enough to hand Beaver their second loss of the season.
PSUGA has had a rough go of things against Beaver in the past with a record of just 2-14 against their adversaries. Their last win over PSU-Beaver came on January 27th 2014 when they picked up a 86-75 win. Last season, Beaver swept the season series winning by scored of 94-37 and 88-41.
Tip-off for Monday’s battle for first place is scheduled for 6 p.m. A live stream will be available courtesy of Penn State Beaver by clicking here.