Beaver routs DuBois 71-54

MONACA, Pa.–– The Penn State Beaver women's basketball team won't slow down as the end of the regular season approaches and remain undefeated in the PSUAC conference as the team secured another victory against Penn State DuBois Tuesday evening, 71-54.

Sophomore guard Alexis Cross (Columbiana) led the way for Beaver with a game-high 21 points, seven rebounds, three assists and three steals, followed by junior guard Diamond Thomas (Pittsburgh/Carlynton), who finished with 20 points, five rebounds, three assists and two steals.

Beaver came out swinging against DuBois, opening the game with an 8-0 run topped off by a Cross trey at 7:28. Cross was a force to be reckoned with in the first, as she helped Beaver outscore DuBois 27-10 by adding on 10 points of her own in the quarter by going 3-6 from the field, 2-3 from behind the arc and 2-2 from behind the charity stripe. The defense played tough in the second as Beaver held DuBois to only 3 points in the quarter while adding on another 14 to give the Lady Lions a 41-13 lead at halftime 

After the break, the Lady Lions built their largest lead of 35 points at the eight-minute mark, after Thomas drilled a 3-point bucket to put the score at 50-15. However, the ladies of DuBois thwarted Beaver's scoring efforts for the next five minutes as they scored 13 unanswered points to cut the margin to 22 points (50-28). However, Cross went on the score 5 of the team's final 8 points of the quarter to push the Lady Lions ahead by 26 heading into the final stanza (58-32). The Lady Lions never looked by or gave up the lead in the final quarter as a Thomas free-throw iced the 71-54 win for the Lady Lions.

Box Score Highlights: Beaver shot 35.8 percent from the field, connecting on 29-81 shots, 36.8 percent from 3-point range on 7-19 shots and 60 percent from the free-throw line, hitting 6-10 from the charity stripe.

After tonight's win, Beaver improves to an 18-3 record overall and remains in first place in the PSUAC conference standings (14-0). The Lady Lions will be back on Friday, Feb.7, where they will face off against PSUAC rival, Penn State New Kensington. Tipoff is at 7 p.m.