McKeesport, PA. – The Penn State Greater Allegheny Women’s Basketball team (1-0, 0-0) saw their offense roll in their 73-34 season-opening win over Butler County CC on Monday. They look to carry that momentum into their next game as they get set to host Carlow (1-1, 0-0) on Thursday at 6:30 p.m.
PSUGA was led by senior Teaira Hartley (East Stroudsburg, PA./East Stroudsburg North HS) who put up a career-high 27 points in the victory. Hartley was a standout for PSUGA a season ago and picked up right where she left off, leading the team’s chase for a second-straight Penn State University Athletic Conference (PSUAC) playoff berth.
It was Hartley who got the offense going, helping her team score nine of the first ten points of the game. After Butler County CC got back on the board, PSUGA went on a another 7-0 run to push their lead to 16-3 with two and a half minutes left in the first. PSUGA would ride that lead for the rest of the first half and went into halftime ahead 36-17.
Butler County CC would get their best offensive chance when they got the score to 40-28 with 4:06 to go in the third quarter. PSUGA outscored Butler County CC 8-1 over the final four minutes and led 48-29 heading into the fourth quarter. In the fourth, PSUGA went on a run, scoring 25 and coming away with the 73-34 win giving them a 1-0 start for the second season in a row.
Hartley’s 27-point effort led the way in the win with ten of those points coming in the final ten minutes of the game. Hartley fell 14 points shy of the single-game scoring record and proved that last year was no fluke. Majesty Alford (Pittsburgh, PA./South Allegheny HS) was the other PSUGA player to finish in double-digits putting up 11 points on the day and shooting 5-7 from the field.
PSUGA continues to fight through their non-conference schedule with three games over the first eight days of the season. They will be tested against some of the top NAIA talent to prepare them for the tough PSUAC competition that lies ahead in the 2019-2020 season.
Standing in their way is a Carlow team that has gone 1-1 over its first two games of the 2019-2020 season. They are coming off a 91-82 win against Saint Mary of the Woods College that moved their record back to .500 on the year. Senior Emma Stille led the way for the Celtics scoring 30 points on the night and reaching the 1,000 career-point mark in the win.
Previous Matchups
PSUGA will be looking for their first-ever win against Carlow going 0-10 in the first ten matchups between the two teams. Their last game came on January 31st, 2018 when Carlow picked up a 68-20 win. Jayla Ellis (Pittsburgh, PA./Woodland Hills HS) led the way with ten points in the loss.
Tip-off for Thursday’s game is schedule for 6:30 p.m. inside the Wunderley Gym. You can watch all the action live at www.athleticsga.com/video-embed.