Lady Lions winning streak ends with Westminster road loss

By: Matylda Zamudio

NEW WILMINGTON, Pa.––The Penn State Beaver women's basketball team five-game winning streak came to an end after picking up a 66-48 loss against Westminster College during the team's Saturday afternoon road bout.

Junior guard Diamond Thomas (Pittsburgh/Carlynton) led in scoring with 13 points, four steals, two rebounds and two assists.

Sophomore guard Alexis Cross (Columbiana) finished just shy of a double-double, contributing 9 points, 12 rebounds, one assist and one steal.

Sophomore forward Jimya Chambers (Phoenix/Westview) also finished with 9 points, as well as three boards, three steals and two blocks.

Off the bench, sophomore forward Mikayla Womer (Jackson Center/Lakeview) tallied on 7 points and five boards of her own.

1st quarter: The teams played each other tough defensively and both went scoreless until Westminster landed on the board with a layup at 6:41. Chambers then answered back with a layup of her own at 5:45 (2-2). While Westminster pulled ahead by 5 down with 2:33 minutes of play remaining in the quarter, Womer hit a clutch 3-pointer, which prompted a 7-2 run to tie the game at 12-12 heading to the second quarter.

2nd quarter: The teams kept it close, with Beaver up by 4 points thanks to a foul by Westminster on Thomas, who scored a layup, and then was sent to the line for one attempt (26-22). But Westminster quickly tied the game again at 26-26 and then took the lead away at 1:42 (28-26). But Chambers drilled a jumper from behind the arc and reclaimed a 1-point lead for Beaver less than 30 seconds later (29-28). However, Westminster hit back with a 3-pointer, which put Beaver down by 2 at halftime (31-29).

3rd quarter: The game took a drastic turn for the Lady Lions in the third, as their shooting went cold and only hit 2-16 shots from the field and missed 0-2 from the 3-point line, which allowed Westminster to outscore Beaver 23-6 and give the team a 19-point deficit heading to the final quarter (54-35).

4th quarter: While a Thomas layup put the Lady Lions within 16 of Westminster's lead (56-40) at 6:09, they then fell behind by 20 points at 5:25 (60-40). Despite outscoring Westminster 13-12 in the quarter, the Lady Lions couldn't get the stops they needed to make a comeback and fell by a final score of 66-48.

Box Score Highlights: Beaver outscored Westminster 12-9 on points off turnovers and finished with six fewer turnovers (17-11).

The Lady Lions fall to 5-2 overall with a 3-0 record in the PSUAC standings. The team will now host PSUAC rival Penn State Fayette in their next game this Tuesday, Dec. 3. The game begins at 6 p.m.