McKeesport, Pa. – The Penn State Greater Allegheny Women’s Basketball Team (0-0, 0-0) gets their 2017/18 regular season kicked off on Friday when they take on Butler County Community College (0-0, 0-0) at 5 p.m. For the ladies, they are looking to rebound with a whole new team after last season’s 6-16 finish and 3-11 finish in conference play.
The Women have played two scrimmages already this season and split those two games going 1-1. They picked up a victory in their first scrimmage against Pitt-Titusville on October 28th and fell in their home scrimmage on November 1st against Geneva 74-39 in the Wunderly Gymnasium. The ladies showed a lot of fight in that game, with most of the players seeing action the entire game, but turnovers cost them in the end and Geneva took advantage of a lot of their offensive opportunities.
This season, PSUGA has two returners looking to lead this team in junior Andrea Burroughs (New Rochelle, Ny./New Rochelle) and sophomore Jayla Ellis (Pittsburgh, Pa./Woodland Hills). Burroughs has been a key contributor for PSUGA over the last two seasons compiling 249 career points over her two seasons and averaging 5.4 points per game. She has also played a big part in the rebound department with 211 over the course of her two seasons.
Ellis joined the PSUGA Women’s Basketball team during the spring semester last season, and played a big role on the offensive side of the ball. In her first season with PSUGA, Ellis scored 111 points, 18 assists, and 65 rebounds. She finished fourth on the team in PPG with 9.3 and her 18.5 shooting percentage from beyond the arc was good for fourth on the team.
Ellis and Burroughs will look to lead a group of young talent at PSUGA as they try to improve on last season’s numbers. Joining them are Brashear high school standout Tina Clybourn (Pittsburgh, Pa./Brashear HS) and Washington D.C. native Alex Hall (Washington, D.C./Bell HS). With seven ladies currently on the roster, it will take contributions from everyone to help make this year’s team a success.
They will get the chance to start their rebuild against a team in BCCC who is in a rebuild of their own. After going an impressive 16-9, including 7-0 in conference play, a year ago BCCC only has one returner from that team and a young core of Freshman as well. These two teams have met three times previously with BCCC holding the advantage with a 2-1 record. The last time these two teams met was during an exhibition game last season where BCCC pulled out an 86-71 victory.
Tip-off for Friday’s contest is scheduled for 5 p.m. inside the Wunderly Gymnasium. Be sure to stay after the game as the PSUGA Men’s Basketball team will kick-off their season against BCCC immediately following the Women’s Game at 7 p.m.
