Lady Lions fall short to Lehigh Valley

Allentown, PA – The Lady Lions fall short to Penn State Lehigh Valley, 71-66.

To open the game, Lehigh Valley was quick to jump onto the score board, gaining a 6 point lead over Beaver within the first few minutes of the first quarter. Mia Mattes (Bethel Park, PA/ Bethel Park) fianlly scored Beaver's first points on a pair of free throws two and a half minutes into the game.  The Lady Lions would battle to pull the game within 2 (10-8), but Lehigh would stretch their lead to 6 as the first quarter came to a close, 19-13.  

To open the second half, Beaver added two points, but the defense of Lehigh Valley would hold them to 3 total points in the quarter as the Lady Lions went into halftime down by a score of 28-16.  

To start the second half, Lehigh Valley made an early layup, but Beaver quickly responded with a 13 point run from Mattes, Morgan Kurtz, (Washington, PA/ Trinity), Miranda Davis (Port Saint Lucie, FL/ Saint Lucie West Centennial), and Jenna Petrucci (New Castle, PA/ Shenango) to catch up to Lehigh Valley, 30-28. With back and forth action between both the teams, Lehigh came out on top 52-44 at the end of the third quarter.  

Trailing by 8 to start the fourth, Beaver battled to get back into the game and with 1:40 left in the fourth, Asia Borders (Ellwood City, PA/ Lincoln) tied the game 64-64, Beaver gained a lead when Mattes followed with a layup (66-64), but Lehigh came back offensively to win the game 71-66.

Leading the Lady Lions offensively was Mattes with 19 points followed by Borders with 10. Davis also added to the stats with 11 rebounds. Beaver returns to action Tuesday, December 8th to take on Penn State Fayette at 6 p.m. for their last home game of the semester.