La Plume, PA - Keystone College's women's basketball team suffered its first setback of the 2015-16 season on Tuesday night, dropping a hard-fought, 79-76 decision to Penn State Lehigh Valley in the Gambal Athletic Center. The Nittany Lions improve to 1-2 on the season with the victory while Giants fall to 2-1.
Keystone raced out to a 9-1 lead over the first 3:21 of Tuesday evening's contest before Penn State Lehigh Valley closed the first period with a 13-1 run to hold a 22-15 lead after the first quarter. The Giants battled back to within a single point, 26-25, with 5:36 remaining in the second stanza on a layup by
Destinee Hall (Spring Valley, NY/Paramus Catholic), but the Nittany Lions used a 10-2 spurt to lead by as many as 10 points before taking a 39-31 lead into halftime.
Llaci Henry led Penn State Lehigh Valley with 12 points in the first half while Andrea Watkins netted nine points in the opening 20 minutes of play for the Nittany Lions, who shot a solid, 42.9 percent from the floor in the first two quarters.
Hall and
Bryce Garrett (Philadelphia, PA/John Bartram) scored six appoints apiece to pace Keystone's offense in the first half with
Samantha Donahue (Taylor, PA/Riverside) dishing out three assists in the half. Hall led all players with eight rebounds in the first half for the Giants, who connected on just 24 percent of their shots from the field in the first 20 minutes of play.
Following the intermission, the visitors extended their lead to as many as 13 points before Keystone scored the final seven points of the third period to trail by six, 59-53, heading into the final 10 minute stanza.
Hall tied the game at 59-59 by hitting the front end of a pair of free throws with 7:44 remaining in the regulation before Donahue put Keystone ahead with a jumper at the 7:11 mark. After a three-pointer by Penn State Lehigh Valley, the Giants rattled off seven-straight points to claim a 68-62 advantage with 4:27 showing on the clock. The Nittany Lions battled back to claim a 72-71 edge with 2:24 remaining and the two teams would trade baskets with
Dyjae Williams (Newark, NJ/Bloomfield Tech) giving the hosts a 73-72 at the 1:47 mark.
Penn State Lehigh Valley hit a pair of free throws on their next possession to reclaim the lead while starting a 7-0 run that would give the Nittany Lions final control of the game.
Watkins finished with a game-high 21 points for Penn State Lehigh Valley, who shots 42 percent from the field for the game and 67.9 percent from the free throw line including a solid, 72.4 percent clip in the second half. Henry finished with 17 points to go along with game-highs of six assists and four steals; Ashley Gordon added a double-double on 15 points and 13 boards; and Lizzy Leiby chipped in with 14 points. Kereece Seuren pulled in 13 boards for the visitors and fell a point shy of a double-double with nine on the night.
Garret led Keystone with 14 points while Hall and
Maddy Moro (Danville, PA/Danville Area) netted 13 points apiece. Hall added a team-leading 13 rebounds to post her second double-double of the season. Williams hauled in 11 boards and Moro added eight caroms and two blocked shots for the Giants, who held a 55-50 advantage in rebounding on the night.
Nina Hodanich (Scranton, PA/West Scranton) contributed nine points while Donahue paced the hosts with four assists.
Keystone finished the contest hitting on 29.3 percent from the floor while going 24.2 percent from three-point range and 70 percent from the charity stripe. The Giants were also plus-five in the turnover department, forcing 21 turnovers by the Nittany Lions while giving the ball away 16 times as a team.
Keystone returns to action on Friday evening with a non-conference game against the College of New Rochelle that is scheduled to start at 5:00 p.m. in the Gambal Center.
