Lady Lions storm past Greater Allegheny

MONACA, Pa.–– The Penn State Beaver women's basketball team captured its eighth PSUAC conference win against Penn State Greater Allegheny Friday night, 71-47.

Sophomore guard Alexis Cross (Columbiana) led the charge for Beaver, finishing with a game-high 15 points, seven rebounds, five steals and three assists, followed by senior forward/center Cheyenne Lopez (Roswell/Goddard), who scored 13 points, six rebounds and one steal.

Additionally, sophomore forward Jimya Chambers (Phoenix/Westview) finished with 12 points, two rebounds, one assist, one steal and one block, while sophomore guard Emily Keener (Utica) contributed 10 points, five rebounds, three assists and two steals.

Freshman guard Kaitlin Gabbidon (Valley Stream/Central) made her presence known and put up 10 points, led the team in boards with eight rebounds, one assist, one steal and one block from off the bench. 

1st quarter: The Lady Lions got rolling off the jump as they pulled ahead with a 9-2 run in the first four minutes. But Greater Allegheny answered back with an 8-0 run to take a 1-point lead over Beaver (10-9).  At 2:49, Chambers drilled a shot from downtown for the Lady Lions to take back the lead (14-12). The defense forced two turnovers by Greater Allegheny and held them to 14 as Beaver went on to lead by 4 points to end the first (18-14).

2nd quarter: Beaver played its best quarter of the game in the second, as the team outscored Greater Allegheny 23-4, starting with 5 unanswered points to pull ahead by 9 at the 7:32 minute mark (23-14). Cross and Gabbidon combined for 13 of Beaver's 23 points with Gabbidon going 2-2 from 3-point range and Cross going 3-6 from the field, which helped Beaver build a 41-18 lead at halftime (50-39).

3rd quarter: While the ladies of Greater Allegheny put up 16 points in the quarter, they weren't able to hold Beaver's offense from scoring, as the Lady Lions put up 17 points in the quarter with 8 points coming from Lopez, who shot 4-7 from the field. Beaver ended the third up by 24 points (58-34).

4th quarter: The Lady Lions building their biggest lead of the night of 31 points at 5:31, after Cross scored a bucket from behind the arc (68-37). The bench then scored the final 10 of 13 points for Beaver in the quarter, earning a 96-82 victory for the team and an eighth PSUAC conference this season.

Box Score Highlights: Beaver outscored Greater Allegheny 20-9 on points off turnovers, 11-2 on second-chance points and 19-12 on bench points. Beaver also picked up eight more rebounds (48-40) and 12 more assists (15-3) than Greater Allegheny in the game.

After tonight's win, Beaver improves to a 10-2 record overall and sit in first (8-0) in the PSUAC-Western standings. The Lady Lions will be back from the holiday break to face off against the University of Maine at Fort Kent on Tuesday, Jan. 14. The game begins at 6 p.m.