Beaver fall to Point Park in season opener

By: Haley Paul

Monaca, PA -- Lady Lions of Beaver fall to Point Park in season opener, 102-71.

The USCAA National Champions returned to the court for a new season to restart their journey to another title. Point Park came out with an early lead on the lady lions, creating a 7 point cushion (7-0) in the first 2 minutes of the game. Off of a jump-shot from Mia Mattes (Bethel Park, PA/ Bethel Park), Beaver was able to put their first points of the game on the board.  Despite struggling to get things going offensively, Beaver was able to pull within five points at the 5:11 mark when London Thompson-Wade (Monroeville, PA/ Gateway) made a pair of free throws to make the score 16-11. As Beaver closed in on Point Park, the Pioneers responded to the pressure by increasing their lead to 17 points (32-15) with 1:16 to play in the first quarter. 

To start the second quarter, Beaver rallied to get within nine at the 6:02 mark on a layup by Jenna Petrucci (New Castle, PA/Shenango).  Beaver's offesne seemed to be finding it's stride in the quarter as the teams were both evenly matched, scoring 19 a piece.  But the first quarter deficit was too much to overcome before halftime. Despite Morgan Kurtz (Washington, PA/ Trinity) scoring 9 points in the quarter, Beaver was down 51-36 at the break. 

To open the second half, Point Park went right back at it, gaing 4 more points (55-36) on Beaver, but the Lady Lions responded this time led by Khalia Adams (Washington, DC/ Phelps) who scored 10 points in the quarter followed by Mattes with 7.  Much like the 2nd quarter, Beaver played right with Point Park, both teams scoring 29 in the period. 

In the fourth quarter Beaver's defense struggled to slow down Point Park as they allowed 22 points while their offense was only able to produce 6 points.  The combination of the slow start in the first quarter with the fourth quarter fatigue led to Beaver falling by a final score of 102-71 to a tough Point Park team. 

Leading the Lady Lions was Kurtz with 18 points. Followed by Adams with 17 and then Mattes with 15. Mattes lead with 9 rebounds with Tiarra Gordon (Pittsburgh, PA/ Westinghouse) not far behind with 7.

The Lady Lions return to action Saturday, November 14th, at 6 p.m. to play Maine Fort Kent in the Park Inn Tip-off Tournament hosted here at Penn State Beaver Fieldhouse.