Scranton Lady Lions Fall to Penn State Beaver

By: Ross Turetsky, Penn State Scranton Athletics

In a Saturday afternoon road matinee, the visiting Penn State Scranton Lady Lions basketball team lost 81-35 to conference rival Penn State Beaver. With the tough defeat, Scranton sees their overall record go to 4-8 and their all-important league mark falls to 0-6.

The hometown Lions from Beaver got off to a red hot start and never looked back, as they outscored Scranton 33-3 in the first quarter of play, had a big 30 point, 43-13, advantage at half-time, were up 64-31 at the end of the third stanza, and after outpacing their opponent by a 17-4 margin in the fourth and final frame they secured their dominant 46 point triumph when the game clock hit all zeroes.

Scranton had their stalwart dynamic duo of stand-out senior Alahnna Balbach and freshman Lexi Corby put up impressive double digit scoring performances in the contest to lead the way offensively for their ball club. Balbach notched a stellar double-double on the day with her team-high 14 points and 10 rebounds, shot a highly efficient 6-13 from the floor, and had a pair of steals on defense in her 34-minutes of game action. Last but certainly not least, Corby tallied 10 points, went 2-4 from beyond the arc, to go along with her two boards, a couple of blocks, and an assist to boot in her rock solid 32-minutes of playing time.

Meanwhile, Beaver had a hat trick of players score in double figures, as Emery Black, Makitah Logan, and Taylor Woodruff set the pace offensively for their team. Black scored a game-high 19 points on a red hot 8-11 shooting from the field, went 2-4 from long distance, made her only free throw, had six rebounds, six assists, a trio of steals, and a block in her quality 32-minutes on the court. Logan put up 17 points on 5-10 shooting, made three of her shots from downtown, was a flawless 4-4 from the charity stripe, added five boards, three steals, and a block in her 25-minutes of play. Finally, Woodruff had 12 points on a lethal 6-10 shooting from the floor, grabbed three rebounds, an assist, and a steal in her 21-minutes of action.

Now veteran head coach Tom McIntyre and his 4-8 Penn State Scranton Lady Lions basketball squad will look to bounce back and snap their mini two game losing skid and earn their first victory in crucial conference play when they return from their month long holiday and end of the semester break when they kick-off the new year, 2024, schedule in a home matchup on Friday night, January 12^th, against league foe Penn State Greater Allegheny, with tip-off time slated for a 6pm start.