Women Look to Stay Hot Against PSU-Mont Alto
The PSUGA Women's Basketball team looks to keep their momentum going when they take on PSU-Mont Alto on Wednesday at 6 p.m. Tina Clybourn leads the way with a combined 55 points in her last three games.
McKeesport, PA. – The Penn State Greater Allegheny Women’s Basketball team (3-6, 2-0) have been on fire as of late picking up wins in each of their first two Penn State University Athletic Conference games. They look to keep that momentum going when they take on Penn State Mont Alto (1-5, 0-2) on Wednesday in their first conference home game at 6 p.m.
PSUGA picked up two wins over the weekend including a career effort from sophomore Tina Clybourn (Pittsburgh, PA./Brashear HS) that lifted PSUGA to a 51-44 victory over PSU-Schuylkill on Saturday. It was a close contest throughout, however, a late 10-1 PSUGA run put the women ahead for good giving them the victory.
Of the 51 points scored by PSUGA, Clybourn contributed a career high 28 points while picking up one rebound in the win. She was able to write her name in the PSUGA record books tying the Women’s Basketball program record becoming the seventh player to hit six three-pointers in a game. Clybourn also fell just two shy of the single-game field goal record going 11-33 (33.3%) from the floor.
After Clybourn, the rest of the PSUGA team combined to score 23 points with Lexus Santiago (Pittsburgh, PA./Imani Christian Academy) leading the charge with five points. On the defensive side of the ball, Tearia Hartley (East Stroudsburg, PA./East Stroudsburg North HS) led the way with eight rebounds while Jayla Ellis (Pittsburgh, PA./Woodland Hills HS) picked up seven assists.
The win moved PSUGA to 2-0 in PSUAC play for the first time in program history and are setting themselves up in good position to contend for one of the four playoff spots in the PSUAC East Division. Head coach Chrissy French was encouraged by the strong performance from her team this week and wants them to keep building off their successes and continuing to grow as the season moves forward.
PSUGA will face their first PSUAC East Divisional opponent on Wednesday when they welcome in PSU-Mont Alto. Mont Alto has been struggling as of late dropping their last three contests while sitting at 0-2 in the conference. They fell to Penn State Lehigh Valley in their last contest 78-44 on Saturday.
Mont Alto’s Mariah Martin led the way with 12 points in the game and was the only Mont Alto player to finish in double digits in the game. Kyah Rucker finished behind her with eight points and three rebounds in the loss.
PSUGA has battled back and forth with Mont Alto through the previous eight matches with a record of 3-5 in those games. Last season’s game was close but PSUGA fell 61-53 at home to Mont Alto. Ellis led the way for PSUGA on that night with 16 points while Alex Hall (Washington, D.C./Bell HS) put up 12 points in the game.
Tip-off for Wednesday’s game is scheduled for 6 p.m. as the first half of a men’s and women’s basketball doubleheader. You can watch the action live at bit.ly/PSUGAYT.