McKeesport, Pa. – The Penn State Greater Allegheny Women’s Basketball Team (1-17, 1-9) upped their offensive play from last week, but still weren’t able to score enough as Penn State Beaver (10-12, 9-3) picked up the win Monday night 88-41. Jayla Ellis (Pittsburgh, Pa./Woodland Hills) continued to lead the offense but the defense could not get the key stop when they needed it.
PSU-Beaver started off hot out of the gate scoring the first 12 points of the game over the course of five and a half minutes. PSUGA would finally get on the board with a jumper by Alex Hall (Washington, D.C./Bell HS) and went on to score 11 of the next 19 points to make the score 18-11 after one quarter of play.
Beaver once again came out firing in the second quarter scoring 21 unanswered points to open things up to 34-11 with under four minutes to go in the half. PSUGA put up 10 points in the final three and a half minutes but Beaver still held a substantial 42-21 lead as the teams broke for the locker rooms.
PSUGA’s team leaders Ellis and Hall continued to secure that role through the first half with each player having six points apiece. Tina Clybourn (Pittsburgh, Pa./Brashear) had success from three-point range hitting both of her attempts in the half. PSUGA was trying to channel their momentum from the end of the first half and turn it into points to start the second half.
Turnovers would come back to bite them in the second half turning the ball over nine times and allowing Beaver to put up 26 points. PSUGA continued to struggle to find points as the game came to a close scoring just nine fourth quarter points leading to the 88-41 final score and their fourth straight loss.
Ellis finished the day leading the team in both points (10) and rebounds (8). Hall continued her strong performance as of late finishing with nine points, three assists, and four rebounds. Andrea Burroughs (New Rochelle, Ny./New Rochelle) and Clybourn each finished with six points on the day.
PSUGA did see an increase in their offensive production and an ability to spread the ball around. After just four players contributed in Saturday’s contest, all six players at least had one point for PSUGA today. They also got back to their goal of shooting 30% or better finishing at 30.9% on the day.
It is a quick turn around for the ladies when they have a home conference match tomorrow night at 6 p.m. against Penn State DuBois. It will be the first half of a men’s and women’s basketball doubleheader and the second of four doubleheaders this week for PSUGA.