McKeesport, Pa. - With major contributions from all over the floor, the Penn State Greater Allegheny women's basketball team overtook Penn State University Athletic Conference victory from Penn State Schyulkill, Sunday afternoon, 80-33.
The game began point-for-point between Greater Allegheny and Schyulkill, as junior guard Nakayla Layne (Pittsburgh, Pa./Taylor Allderdice), junior guard Shelby Bendick (White Oak, Pa./McKeesport) and freshman Tra-Esha Carswell (Homestead, Pa./Steel Valley) bucket the first six points to keep even with Schyulkill. GA next held their opposer to just those six points while freshman power forward Aaquila Youngblood (Pittsburgh, Pa./Obama Academy) deposited six, as Layne and Carswell added points to bring the lead to a quick 14-6. Layne alongside junior power forward Christina Floyd (Philadelphia, Pa./Saints Neumann-Goretti) put up 15 additional points through five minutes of action to catapult Greater Allegheny over Schyulkill, 28-9.
Senior point guard Taylor Fulton (Duquesne, Pa./West Mifflin) notched a jumper as Layne and Floyd matched one another with a lay-up. Carswell added two jumpshots to extend the Greater Allegheny lead 38-15. Fulton slashed two free-throws to end the first half, Greater Allegheny up by a landslide, 40-19.
Greater Allegheny held Schyulkill to zero points through the first four minutes of second half action, while Fulton, Floyd, Youngblood and Layne continued the swell as GA found themselves ahead 52-19. Freshman power forward Tenisha Gibson (Pittsburgh, Pa./Obama Academy) added three more tallies for Greater Allegheny as Bendick and Layne supplied jumpers for the blue and white. Fulton bucketed two extra points from the charity stripe before freshman guard Brianna Audette (Coatesville, Pa./Coatesville) slammed a trey toward the Greater Allegheny mark, 66-25. Carswell, Bendick, Fulton and Floyd all managed to lift GA's mark with points at the free-throw line. Audette, Youngblood and Gibson rode out the last three minutes of play by putting up two points apiece. Through forty minutes of regulation, Penn State Greater Allegheny came out victorious over the PSUAC adversary, 80-33.
Layne was the leading scorer on the day, as the junior guard dropped 24 points as she finished 55% (11-of-20) from the floor. She also grabbed seven steals, grabbed six rebounds and dished out three assists. Floyd was steady, as the force supplemented 13 points off of 75% (6-of-8) of shots attempted from the floor. Contributing to her double-double, Floyd pulled down eleven boards. Fulton added 6-of-7 from the free-throw line as she contributed ten points to GA alongside dishing out 16 assists to her teammates. The big-timer also grabbed six rebounds as well as nabbing four steals. Carswell came off the bench and granted nine points and three rebounds.
As a team, Greater Allegheny dumped 50.8% (33-of-65) of their shots from the floor alongside dropping 56.5% (13-of-23) of their shots attempted from the free-throw line. GA also managed to out-rebound Schyulkill, 52-31, a major asset to the win. Greater Allegheny turned 28 points off of 24 Schyulkill turnovers. With 42 points in the paint, Greater Allegheny (15-9, 12-3) was unstoppable.
This game being the last regular season match, the win paves the way for Greater Allegheny to hold the #2 seed in the upcoming Penn State University Athletic Conference playoffs.
Penn State Greater Allegheny will look to host the PSUAC Final Four Semi-Final match-up on February 22, 2014 in Wunderley Gymnasium. The opponent is yet to be announced and the game is projected to begin at 3 p.m. More information on the standings will come shortly - stay tuned to our website for more details!
