McKeesport, PA. – After being down by almost 20 points at halftime, the Penn State Greater Allegheny Women’s Basketball team (12-9, 9-3) battled back to within nine points in the final three minutes. However, they would fall just short to Penn State Brandywine (15-7, 12-2) on Saturday 69-53. The loss moves them to 9-3 in conference play as they fall a half game behind PSU-Beaver.
The two teams battled through the first three minutes of the game and it was PSUGA that held the slight 7-5 advantage early. The battle continued throughout the quarter with the lead changing four different times throughout the quarter before Brandywine eventually took a 17-14 lead after one.
PSUGA would come back with a short 4-2 run to bring the score to 19-18 in the opening minutes of the second quarter before Brandywine went on an 11-4 run that opened things up to 30-22 with just under two minutes left before half. The teams traded the final six points of the quarter and PSUGA headed to the locker room down 34-24. With the deficit sitting at just 10, PSUGA was within striking distance to complete the comeback.
It was once again PSUGA that came out with a little momentum in the third quarter scoring the first four points, but again Brandywine responded with a 10-3 run that brought the score to 46-31 with just over three minutes left in the third quarter. Before long Brandywine increased the lead to 52-35 by quarters end and PSUGA had a lot of work to do to complete a comeback attempt.
PSUGA started the quarter with two separate runs of 6-2 and 8-0 that brought the score to 59-49 with 3:42 left on the clock. They got as close as 59-51, but a 10-2 run over the final three minutes put the game out of reach and handed PSUGA their second straight loss. Despite a great effort they now exit the weekend in second in the division.
Teaira Hartley (East Stroudsburg, PA./East Stroudsburg North HS) led the way with 16 points, but was the only PSUGA player who could finish the day in double digits. However, the offense was spread out with every player in uniform getting at least two points in the game. Lexus Santiago (Pittsburgh, PA./Imani Christian Academy) once again led the defense with seven rebounds.
PSUGA now sots at second place in the division and are currently in a string of five games in nine days. Their magic number to host a home playoff game can still go down to one if PSU-DuBois falls to PSU-Lehigh Valley this afternoon.
The PSUGA women’s basketball team returns to action on Monday when they take on PSU-Wilkes Barre at 6 p.m. as the first half of a men’s and women’s basketball doubleheader.