McKeesport, Pa. – After picking up one of the biggest wins in program history on Wednesday the Penn State Greater Allegheny Women’s Basketball team (14-9, 11-3) look to keep the momentum going when they take on Penn State New Kensington (0-4, 0-0) on Saturday at 1 p.m. With two games remaining in the regular season, PSUGA is gearing up for their first playoff run in the last five seasons after a 62-59 win over PSU-Beaver on Wednesday.
It was the first time that PSUGA defeated Beaver since the 2012-2013 season and broke a nine game losing streak to the number one team in the Penn State University Athletic Conference West Division. It was a battle throughout the night, but after being behind 16-12 after one quarter, PSUGA would start their trek towards a comeback.
After Beaver extended their lead to 21-16, PSUGA would go on a 7-0 run that gave them their first lead of the day 23-21. Beaver would take back the lead for a moment before another 6-2 run to end the quarter sent them to halftime ahead 29-26. PSUGA started pulling away with a 9-2 run over the first five minutes of the third quarter and went on to put up 22 points in the quarter. Beaver would battle back with a 12-0 run in the fourth quarter to take a 52-51 lead late, but PSUGA outscored Beaver 11-7 over the final two minutes to pick up the victory.
Alex Hall (Washington, D.C./Bell HS) and Tina Clybourn (Pittsburgh, Pa./Brashear HS) had big days scoring 12 points apiece and were two of the four PSUGA players to post double digit numbers on the day. Teaira Hartley (East Stroudsburg, PA./East Stroudsburg North HS) led the defense with 13 points and added 10 points to pick up her fifth double-double of the season.
With the win, PSUGA now improves to 11-3 in conference play and now sits one win away from tying the program record for conference wins in a season. Their hopes for the #1 seed are still alive as they need to win their final conference game against PSU-Fayette as well as have Beaver lose two of their remaining four conference games.
Before they can worry about Fayette, they face a PSU-New Kensington team that is going through some growing pains in their first ever season. They have yet to score more then 30 points in a game and are coming off of an 83-29 loss to PSU-Fayette. Senior Erika Finn led the way with 10 points and 11 rebounds in the loss.
PSUGA played New Kensington in their first ever game earlier this season and picked up an 87-22 win on the road. Clybourn had a career day scoring 32 points while Hartley added 26 in a dominant performance. Saturday’s game will be big for PSUGA in terms of the United States Collegiate Athletic Association as they try to keep improving for a shot to make their first ever USCAA National Tournament in early march.
Tip-off for Saturday’s game is scheduled for 1 p.m. as the first half of a men’s and women’s basketball doubleheader. You can watch all the action live at bit.ly/PSUGAYT.