La Plume, Pa. – Keystone College battled Susquehanna University point-for-point over the first half of Thursday night's women's basketball home opener, but the River Hawks outscored the Giants 19-3 in the third quarter to pull away with a 56-38 victory.  Susquehanna (1-0) shot 52.9 percent from the floor in the decisive frame to win its season opener while spoiling the home opener for Keystone, who falls to 1-1 on the year.
 
Keystone scored the first four points of Thursday night's non-conference tilt and held Susquehanna scoreless over the first six minutes, but the River Hawks used an 8-2 run to hold an 8-6 edge after low-scoring opening period.
 
The visitors extended their lead to 12-6 early in the second quarter, but Keystone reeled off seven straight points to claim a 13-12 edge.  The two teams traded the lead three times over the next few minutes before Brianna Nolen (Union Bridge, Md./Walkersville) drained a three-pointer just before the halftime buzzer to send the game into halftime tied at 20-20.

Nolen led Keystone with seven points and six rebounds in the first half while Emily Hutton (North Bennington, Vt./Mount Anthony Union) chipped in with four points for the Giants, who shot 33.3 percent from the floor over the opening 20 minutes of play.
 
Susquehanna's Nikki Komara paced all scorers with nine points in the first half while Courtney Adams netted seven points for the River Hawks, who connected on 31.0 percent of their shots from the floor over the first two quarters.
 
Hutton opened the second half with a jumper to put Keystone back in front, but Susquehanna outscored the Giants 19-1 the rest of the frame to take a 39-23 advantage into the fourth stanza.  The River Hawks would lead by as many as 25 points in the final frame, battling to within 17 points before the final horn sounded.
 
Komara finished with a game-high 16 points to go along with seven rebounds while Adams finished with nine points.  Angie Schedler dished out a game-high four assists and also pulled down seven boards for Susquehanna, who finished the night shooting 37.9 percent from the field including a 20.8 percent clip from three-point range.
 
Hutton paced Keystone with 10 points while Nolen and Nina Hodanich (Scranton, Pa./West Scranton) tallied eight points apiece.  Nolen led the Giants with a game-high 11 boards to help the hosts hold a 43-39 advantage on the glass for the contest.
 
Bryce Garrett (Philadelphia, Pa./John Bartram) contributed six points while Dyjae Williams (Newark, N.J./Bloomfield Tech) had two steals and two assists.  Hodanich also added a pair of helpers for Keystone, who went 24.5 percent from the field on the night including a cold, 1-13 night shooting from downtown.  The Giants converted 64.7 percent of their attempts the free throw line.
 
Keystone will be back in action this weekend at the Manhattanville College Tournament.  The Giants will take on the host Valiants at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday before meeting Connecticut College or Marywood University on Sunday afternoon.