McKeesport, Pa. - Maintaining the lead through the majority of regulation, the Penn State Greater Allegheny women's basketball team went on to fall to Penn State Beaver, 84-76, in the Penn State University Athletic Conference Final Four match-up, Saturday afternoon.
The game started off in Greater Allegheny possession, as freshman power forward Aaquila Youngblood (Pittsburgh, Pa./Obama Academy) dropped two jumpers to start the GA push. Junior guard Shelby Bendick (White Oak, Pa./McKeesport Area) and junior power forward Christina Floyd (Philadelphia, Pa./Saints Neumann-Goretti) contributed a jump-shot each before Youngblood answered again for two. Greater Allegheny found themselves ahead 15-6 just five minutes into the game as senior point guard Taylor Fulton (Duquesne, Pa./West Mifflin), junior guard Nakayla Layne (Pittsburgh, Pa./Taylor Allderdice) and freshman point guard Tra-Esha Carswell (Homestead, Pa./Steel Valley) contributed points.
Beaver began to close the gap before Floyd earned six points toward the GA tally, 23-18. Fulton hit a jumper before freshman power forward Tenisha Gibson (Pittsburgh, Pa./Obama Academy) added three points in free-throws. Fulton hammered two trey's within two minutes to bring the score to 36-29 with four minutes to play in the first half. Bendick earned the final three marks before halftime, Greater Allegheny up 39-36.
Bendick came out hot with the first two jumpers for the home team, 43-38. Carswell contributed a jumpshot as Beaver inched back closer to Greater Allegheny. Beaver took their first lead, 46-45, before Floyd hit a three-pointer. Youngblood managed a jumper before Floyd battled back-and-forth with Beaver's offense. Fulton completed a three-pointer with eight minutes to play, GA ahead by just one, 60-59. Over two minutes of action, Greater Allegheny's offense heard additions from Floyd, Fulton, Bendick and Youngblood to bring GA infront 68-67. Floyd attained a three-pointer to bring Greater Allegheny to their final lead of the game, 71-67. Beaver continued to answer on the board, as they managed to earn 17 points within the final five minutes of playing time. Youngblood added a jumpshot for GA as Fulton put up three at the free-throw line to complete the scoring drive for Greater Allegheny.
Floyd finished the game with 23 points and 13 rebounds, as she completed 47.4% (9-of-19) of her shots from the floor. Fulton earned 17 points toward the Greater Allegheny tally alongside dishing out 17 assists. Bendick dumped 13 points while making 54.5% (6-for-11) of her shots from the floor. Youngblood added 12 points off of 66.7% (6-of-9) of her shots taken from the floor.
The team completed 70.6% (12-of-17) of their free-throws through the semi-final game. The nail-biter saw 13 lead changes and six ties as Greater Allegheny obtained their largest lead of the game (11) with eleven minutes to play.
Greater Allegheny closed the regular season with a record of 15-10, 12-4 in the PSUAC. With the 84-76 win, Beaver moves on to the Championship game at Bryce Jordan Center on Tuesday, February 25th at 6 p.m. against Penn State Brandywine.
