Lady Lions outlast DuBois

By: Matylda Zamudio

DUBOIS, Pa.–– The Penn State Beaver women's basketball team remains undefeated in the PSUAC conference after defeating Penn State DuBois Tuesday night, 96-82.

Junior guard Diamond Thomas (Pittsburgh/Carlynton) led the charge tonight, finishing with a game-high 30 points, six steals, three rebounds and three assists, followed by sophomore guard Alexis Cross (Columbiana) who put up 22 points, six rebounds, five steals and three assists.

Sophomore forward Jimya Chambers (Phoenix/Westview) finished with a double-double tonight, contributing 16 points, 10 rebounds, four assists, three steals and three blocks.

1st quarter: The teams went back-and-forth in the opening minutes and tied the game 7-7 at 5:36. Cross then drilled three straight jumpers to put Beaver ahead by 8 points (15-7).  At the 3:29 mark, Thomas hit a 2-pointer to bring the lead to double-double digits (19-9). Chambers hit a clutch 3-pointer with 2:04 remaining and the Lady Lions went on to take an 11-point lead over DuBois to close out the first (30-19).

2nd quarter: DuBois fought back early in the second by outscoring the Lady Lions 15-6 to make it a one-possession game (36-34) at the 6:04 mark. But Beaver got back on track with Cross scoring 5 straight points, followed by a jumper from freshman guard Kaitlin Gabbidon (Valley Stream/Central) to bring the lead back to 7 points with only four and a half minutes remaining in the first half (43-36). Then, at 1:14, Chambers delivered again with another late quarter jumper from downtown to boost Beaver's advantage back to 11 at halftime (50-39).

3rd quarter: Beaver played its best quarter of the game in the third, as the team outscored DuBois  27-15 with the Lady Lions building their biggest lead of the night (25 points) with only 13 seconds left in the quarter after sophomore guard Emily Keener (Utica) hit a late layup to give Beaver a 77-54 lead heading to the final quarter. Thomas came up big in the third as she delivered 10 of her 20 points for Beaver, going 3-9 from the field and hitting all four of her free-throw attempts.

4th quarter: While the ladies of DuBois outdid Beaver on the scoreboard in the final quarter, holding the Lady Lions to 19 points, while putting up 28 of their own, the third quarter 23-point deficit was too much for them to come back from as Beaver captured a 96-82 victory and a seventh conference this season.

Box Score Highlights: Beaver shot 51.9 percent from the field, hitting 41-79 shots, 36.4 percent from 3-point range on 4-11 shots and 58.8 percent from the free-throw line, hitting 10-17 from the charity stripe.

After tonight's win, Beaver improves to a 9-2 record overall and sit in first (7-0) in the PSUAC-Western standings.

The Lady Lions will play at home on Friday, Dec. 13, where they will face off against Penn State Greater Allegheny. The game begins at 6 p.m.