McKeesport, PA. – With the first half of the PSUGA Athletic Season officially coming to an end on Saturday, the PSUGA Athletics Department announced their final set of athletes of the week on Wednesday. PSUGA Women’s Basketball Player Tina Clybourn (Pittsburgh, Pa./Brashear HS) was named this week’s female athlete of the week while men’s basketball player Jordon Payne (McKeesport, PA./McKeesport HS) was named the male athlete of the week.
Payne and Clybourn both played instrumental parts in their team’s wins over Penn State DuBois on Saturday with both players scoring 20 plus points. Both teams headed into the Christmas break with some momentum behind them and both are fighting for a spot in the Penn State University Athletic conference playoffs.
Clybourn continued her strong season from three-point range going 5-12 as part of a 21-point effort in her team’s 74-69 win. Clybourn has shown just how reliable she can be from three-point range this season and currently ranks sixth in all of the PSUAC with a 36.3 3PT%. Saturday was the second time this season that Clybourn has scored 20 or more points and she leads PSUGA this year averaging 13.5 points per game.
Payne came to form with his best performance of the 2018-2019 season putting up 28 points, 24 coming in the first half, in helping his team break a three-game losing streak with an 87-70 win. Payne has been a force to be reckoned with throughout his PSUGA career and that continued into his senior season. In his first eight games, he has scored 15 or more points six times and has not scored under 10 points in any of those games.
Both Payne and Clybourn are having strong seasons and are a big part of their team’s early season successes. The PSUGA Women’s Basketball team sits in prime position as they head into the break with a perfect 4-0 record in PSUAC play while the men gained some momentum and sit at 2-3 in conference play heading into the break. With only the top four teams from the PSUAC West Division making the playoffs, both teams will continue to work hard as they make a push to cement their place in the tournament.
The PSUGA Men’s and Women’s Basketball teams are back in action on Monday January 7th when they go on the road to face Penn State Beaver in double header action. The women will tip-off at 6 p.m. followed by the men at 8 p.m.