Selinsgrove, Pa. – Susquehanna University built a 12-point lead in the first quarter of Wednesday evening's non-conference women's basketball game against visiting Keystone College and never trailed in a 65-45 victory.  The River Hawks lift their record to 5-1 on the season while the Giants slide to 2-5 with the setback.
 
Samy Farah (Sterling, Va./Potomac Falls) paced Keystone with a season-high 12 points on the evening while Bre Moore (Charleston, W.Va./Pennwood) (11 points) and Mayah Kitchen (Philadelphia, Pa./Imhotep Charter) (10 points) also reached double-figures in the loss for the Giants.
 
Susquehanna scored the first nine points of Wednesday's tilt before Keystone cut its deficit to six points in the early going.  The River Hawks closed the opening period with a 7-1 burst to hold a 16-4 advantage at the end of the frame.
 
The Giants netted six of the first eight points in the second stanza, cutting their deficit to 18-10 at the 6:53 mark on a three-pointer from Kitchen, but Susquehanna countered with a 10-2 spurt to open up a 28-12 advantage with just under three minutes remaining in the frame.  The hosts would hold a 36-17 lead at halftime after tallying the final eight points of the second quarter.
 
Susquehanna extended its lead to 23 points early in the third period, but Keystone narrowed the gap to 48-31 heading into the final 10 minutes of play after outscoring the River Hawks 14-12 in the quarter.
 
Back-to-back field goals from Khaliah Gordon (Philadelphia, Pa./Penn Wood) and Moore brought the Giants to within 16 points early in the fourth stanza, but the hosts halted any hopes of a comeback by the visitors by netting the next six points and building a 24-point lead before closing out the 20-point victory.
 
Maddie Murray scored a game-high 16 points to lead Susquehanna while Megan McFadden netted 11 points to go along with a team-leading seven rebounds. 
 
Tess Nichols dished out a game-high five assists for the River Hawks, who shot 39.4 percent from the field for the game while going 20 percent from three-point range and 47.4 percent from the free throw line.
 
Emily Hutton (North Bennington, Vt./Mount Anthony Union) and Maddy Moro (Danville, Pa./Danville Area) tied for a game-high with eight rebounds apiece for the Giants, who received three assists from both Gordon and Autum Kitajima (Williamsport, Pa./Wellsboro Area).  Moore collected three steals for the visitors, who connected on 30.5 percent of their attempts from the floor in the loss while shooting 36.4 percent from long range and just 35.7 percent from the charity stripe.
 
Keystone held a 46-45 edge in rebounding for the game, but committed 29 turnovers to just 14 for Susquehanna.
 
The Giants will travel to Purchase, New York on Saturday afternoon to take on Manhattanville College in a non-conference contest starting at 1:00 p.m.