Brandywine Falls At Greater Allegheny

MCKEESPORT, Pa. – The Penn State Brandywine women's basketball team nearly overcame a seven-point deficit during the final four minutes before dropping a 90-84 decision at Penn State Greater Allegheny on Saturday afternoon.

All 40 minutes were closely contested as the matchup featured nine ties and 16 lead changes.

Amanda Floyd (Glenolden, Pa./Interboro), Kiara Koger (Philadelphia, Pa./Neumann-Goretti) and Trinell Watson (Pottstown, Pa./Pottstown) combined for 17 first quarter points on 6-of-10 shooting and the Lions led 23-21 after 10 minutes.

Greater Allegheny used a 10-0 spurt to build a 35-27 edge midway through the second period, but Brandywine trimmed the deficit to two at the break when Cheyenne Rivas (Thorndale, Pa./Collegium Charter) canned a jumper just before the halftime buzzer.

Koger buried back-to-back triples to give the Lions a five-point edge, their biggest of the second half, at 55-50. The hosts netted the next seven points and pushed the lead to three points at the end of the third quarter following Lauren Harris' jumper with 32 seconds left.

Harris knocked down a three-pointer to start the fourth quarter that doubled the margin; however, Brandywine tallied nine of the next 11 points, taking the lead with a pair of Rivas free throws.

Greater Allegheny countered with an 11-3 run, opening up a 79-72 edge with 4:10 to go. Koger got the Lions' rally started by sinking two free throws and Anaiyah Allen (Lutz, Fla./Steinbrenner) followed with two shots from the free throw stripe. After two GA free throws, Allen added two more of her own and Rivas buried a triple that brought the Lions within one.

Harris sank two free throws, but Kaitlyn Johnson (Clifton Heights, Pa./Upper Darby) grabbed a steal and fast-break lay-in to once again get the Lions within one with 1:12 to go; however, Brandywine could not complete the comeback as GA answered with consecutive layups and tacked on two free throws with less than 10 seconds to play.

Floyd led the scoring effort with 20 points for Brandywine, while Koger added 19 points, four rebounds and four assists. Rivas and Watson each contributed 13 points and Allen netted all eight of her points during the fourth quarter.

Brandywine (3-4, 3-2 PSUAC) opens a three-game homestand Wednesday against Cairn at 7:00 PM.