Lamont Furnace, PA. – It came down to the final seconds on Saturday, but the Penn State Greater Allegheny Women’s Basketball Team (1-2, 0-0) fell just short losing to Andrews (2-0, 0-0) 51-49. After falling behind 44-34 entering the final quarter of play, PSUGA fought with all they had to get back into the game, but they missed the comeback by just one field goal in the loss.
PSUGA entered the third quarter trailing 44-34 and needed to find a way to generate some offense. Leaders Tearia Hartley (East Stroudsburg, PA./East Stroudsburg North HS) and Tina Clybourn (Pittsburgh, PA./Brashear HS) stepped up and combined to score 10 of the team’s 15 fourth quarter points.
After trading the first few points of the quarter, PSUGA went on an 11-0 run to tie things up at 49-49 with 4:21 to go and then the defenses took over as neither team scored for the next 4:18 seconds. PSUGA found themselves with the ball with 10 seconds to go, but a costly turnover put the ball into Andrew’s hands. A foul by Jayla Ellis (Pittsburgh, Pa./Woodland Hills HS) brought Andrew’s Hannah Sabangan to the line with three seconds left and she nailed her two free throws securing the victory.
It was a hard-fought battle throughout the night as PSUGA kept themselves right in the ball game for most of the night. They trailed 12-8 after one quarter of play and were able to storm back into the game with a 16-point second quarter to bring the score to 25-24 at halftime. The comeback was almost complete, but their ended just two points shy taking their second loss of the season.
Clybourn had her best game of the season finishing with a team high 12 points and being the only PSUGA player to finish in double digits on the day. Hartley and Lexus Santiago (Pittsburgh, Pa./Imani Christian Academy) added eight points of their own and Santiago led the team with eight rebounds on the day.
PSUGA now falls to 1-2 on the season as they continue their stretch of five games in seven days over the course of the week. With tough competition ahead of them, they will continue to try and get better as they prepare for the grueling conference schedule that awaits them in the coming months.
PSUGA returns to action tomorrow afternoon for day two of the PSU-Fayette tournament when they take on Alfred State at 3 p.m.