Uniontown, Pa. – The United States Collegiate Athletic Association announced their All-Americans as part of championship weekend on Sunday and two Penn State Greater Allegheny Women’s Basketball players were honored. Junior Teaira Hartley (East Stroudsburg, Pa./East Stroudsburg North HS) and sophomore Tina Clybourn (Pittsburgh, Pa./Brashear HS) each took home USCAA All-American Honorable Mention awards for their efforts this season.
Both players had huge seasons that led their team on a complete turn around from being one of the worst teams in the Penn State University Athletic Conference a season ago, to making the playoffs as the #2 seed this season. As two-thirds of the team’s three-headed offensive monster, both girls are deserving of this first-time honor.
For Hartley, it was a year where she got to step in and be a leader for a team that only had one upper classmen. After transferring in from a very successful Lackawanna program, she made an immediate impact on her new team finishing second on the team averaging 12.1 points per game. Perhaps her biggest mark, however, was he ability to get the ball to her teammates. She finished with a PSUAC leading 129 assists beating the next closest competitor by 12 assists.
Hartley’s biggest game of the season was when she picked up a triple-double in a crucial 81-45 win over PSU-Scranton on January 18th. She scored 10 points while picking up 10 rebounds and a career high 18 assists in the win. That game went a long way in helping PSUGA clinch their first playoff berth in five seasons and, thanks to Hartley’s leadership, gave the team some much needed confidence down the stretch.
For Clybourn, it was a year about coming into her own. She was coming off a year where she averaged just 7.4 PPG and was lacking confidence in herself. That all changed in her sophomore season where she more then doubled her point total from last year putting up 380 points in 26 games played for a 14.6 PPG average. She was the fifth leading scorer in all of the conference and her team’s top three-point shooter shooting 29.6% (84-284) from beyond the arc.
Clybourn also had a big game against Scranton on the road to the PSUAC playoffs when she broke the single game record for three-pointers in a game hitting nine on the night while putting up a career high 34 points in the win. The effort helped her win her first PSUAC Women’s Basketball Player of the Week Award as well as he first USCAA Women’s Basketball Player of the Week Award.
With both Hartley and Clybourn set to return to next seasons team, PSUGA Women’s Basketball is looking to continue to grow as they move into the off-season. With some good recruits on the line and many more to come, head coach Chrissy French is optimistic about the future of PSUGA women’s basketball.
