Beaver soars past Fayette

By: Matylda Zamudio

MONACA, Pa.––The Penn State Beaver women's basketball team blew out Penn State Fayette during the Tuesday night home PSUAC conference bout, 87-63.

At the helm of the offense was sophomore guard Alexis Cross (Columbiana), who finished with a game-high 29 points, seven rebounds, seven steals and two assists.

Junior guard Diamond Thomas (Pittsburgh/Carlynton) earned a double-double with 19 points, a game-high 10 steals, eight assists and seven boards.

Senior forward/center Cheyenne Lopez (Roswell/Goddard) rounded out the double-digit scoring for Beaver, 14 points, seven rebounds, one steal and block.

1st quarter: Sophomore guard Alexis Cross (Columbiana) opened up the scoring made back-to-back layups for Beaver, but Fayette tied it up at 7:33 (4-4). The teams kept it close at 11-9, but Fayette pulled ahead 16-9 with 1:37 left in the quarter. But Thomas got fouled on a steal and hit a free-throw to make it a one-possession game at 16-13.

2nd quarter: Fayette pulled ahead by 7 at 2:57, but Lopez hit a jump shot and followed up with a layup 30 seconds later to make it a 3-point game at 28-25. Beaver trailed 30-27 at halftime.

3rd quarter: Beaver took the lead at 9:44 after Thomas hit a jump shot to put the team ahead by 1 (30-29). At 5:14, the Lady Lions made an 8-0 run to pull ahead 44-37. Beaver outscored 25-15 and lead by 52-45 heading to the final quarter.

4th quarter: Beaver played its most dominant quarter of the game, outscoring Fayette 35-18 in the fourth quarter and won by a final score of 87-63.

Box Score Highlights: The Lady Lions outscored Fayette 50-30 on points in the paint, 17-14 second-chance points and 32-11 on points off turnovers.

After tonight's win, the Lady Lions improve to a 6-2 record overall and sit at first place (4-0) in the PSUAC-Western standings. The Lady Lions will be on the road for their next game on Friday, Dec. 6, where the team will face off against Penn State Mont Alto. The game begins at 6 p.m.