MONACA, Pa.–– The Penn State Beaver women's basketball team continues to hold the regular season throne in the PSUAC conference after capturing the team's 13th win against Penn State Mont Alto Saturday afternoon, 68-51.

Sophomore guard Emily Keener (Utica) and junior guard Diamond Thomas (Pittsburgh/Carlynton) topped the scoring for Beaver today, both finishing with 16 points. Thomas also finished with five steals, three rebounds and three assists, while Keener also finished with four rebounds, two assists and three steals in the game.

Sophomore guard Alexis Cross (Columbiana) finished with 11 points, three assists and two rebounds, and sophomore forward Jimya Chambers (Phoenix/Westview) finished with 10 points, five boards, five steals, one assist and one block.

Beaver came out aggressive as always and took an early 13-0 lead over Mont Alto in the first. The defense kept the pressure on Mont Alto and forced 11 turnovers by the visitors in the quarter while holding them to only 6 points. Beaver led 27-6 heading into the second. The Lady Lions never lost control of the quarter, as they added on another 19 points with Chambers and Cross combining for 14 points, which gave Beaver a 46-19 advantage at halftime.

In the third, the Lady Lions built their largest lead of the game of to 33 points (60-27) after Keener drilled a 3-pointer at the 4:01 mark. The teams played a duplicate quarter to the second, with Beaver scoring another 19 points to Mont Alto's 16 to bring the score to 65-35 heading into the final stanza. While Beaver switched out starters midway through the fourth, Mont Alto began to rally late with a 16-0 run while holding Beaver scoreless until the final three seconds of the game when freshman guard Nia Holley (Stamford/Westhill High School) dealt the final blow with a late 3-pointer to give the Lady Lions their 13 PSUAC conference victory of the season (68-51).

Box Score Highlights: Beaver shot 40.3 percent from the field, connecting on 27-67 shots, 28.6 percent from 3-point range on 4-14 shots and 66.7 percent from the free-throw line, hitting 10-15 from the charity stripe.

After tonight's win, Beaver improves to a 17-3 record overall and remains in first place in the PSUAC conference standings (13-0). The Lady Lions will be back Tuesday, Feb. 4, where they will host PSUAC rival, Penn State DuBois. The game begins at 6 p.m.