Scranton Lady Lions Drop a Nail-Biter

By: Ross Turetsky, Penn State Scranton Athletics

In a Saturday road matinee, the visiting Penn State Scranton Lady Lions women's basketball squad lost by the slimmest of margins, by a mere four points, 71-67, to their conference rival Penn State New Kensington. With the defeat, Scranton sees their overall record fall to 3-4 and in their all-important league play schedule they are 0-2.

The road warrior Lions from Scranton jumped out to a fast start taking an early 19-8 lead at the end of the first quarter and had a sizeable 38-29 advantage at the half-time break in the action. However, New Kensington came storming back in the second half of play, outscoring Scranton 21-13 in the third period to cut the deficit to a lone point, 51-50, heading into the fourth and final frame. In the last quarter, New Kensington outscored Scranton 21-16 to complete the improbable comeback and seize their four point home triumph by game's end.

Scranton had a quartet of players score in double figures during the festivities, as a combo of freshmen Lexi Corby and Micayla Arzie, as well as senior Alahnna Balbach, and sophomore Megan Gatto set the pace offensively for their ball club. Corby notched a double-double scoring a team-high 19 points and nabbed 10 rebounds, making one of her three point attempts, to go along with a pair of assists, and a block while playing all 40-minutes of the contest. Arzie tallied 10 points, made a couple of shots from downtown, had six boards, and a steal to boot. Balbach also recorded another double-double, putting up 16 points and 11 rebounds, shooting a red hot 7-12 from the field, making 1-2 from beyond the arc, to go along with two assists, and a pair of steals on defense as well. Last but certainly not least, Gatto provided a nice spark coming off the bench in her solid 13-minutes on the court, dropping 11 points and seven boards on the day.

Meanwhile, New Kensington had a trio of players put up double digit scoring performances, as junior guard Destiny Batiste, freshman guard Jayde Rivera, and sophomore forward Esther Cole led the way for their squad. Batiste had a stellar double-double with her game-high 24 points and 16 rebounds, connecting on a hat trick of shots from long range, to go along with her four assists, three steals, and a block in her stalwart 38-minutes of game action. Rivera had 19 points, making one of her three point shots, grabbing four boards, two assists, and a couple of steals on the defensive side of the ball. Finally, Cole put up a solid 15 points on a highly efficient 7-10 shooting from the field, made a three pointer, nabbed eight rebounds, a steal, and a block for good measure in her 26-minutes of play.

Now long-time head coach Tom McIntyre and his 3-4 Penn State Scranton Lady Lions basketball team will look to bounce back and snap their four game losing streak when they next go on the road shortly after the Thanksgiving holiday break to face off with conference foe Penn State Brandywine on Tuesday, November 28^th, with a scheduled tip-off of 6pm.