Beaver Advances to PSUAC Championship After Win Over Penn State Lehigh Valley
With their 84-64 win over Penn State Lehigh Valley in what was an exciting matchup, the Lady Lions of Penn State Beaver punched their ticket to this year's PSUAC championship game.
Monaca, PA - With their 84-64 win over Penn State Lehigh Valley in what was an exciting matchup, the Lady Lions of Penn State Beaver punched their ticket to this year's PSUAC championship game. The Lady Lions, led by outstanding performances by Junior guard Diamond Thomas (Pittsburgh, PA Carlynton) and Sophmore forward Jimya Chambers (Phoenix, AZ Westview), were able to edge out a good lead in a tough first quarter before pushing their way to a 20 point victory.
The first quarter started out as a good back and fourth matchup between Beaver and Lehigh Valley, as both teams came out playing their hearts out. For Beaver, the first 5 minutes could be described as a struggle to maintain a lead against a tough Lehigh Valley team. As both sides traded points it would be Beaver's Senior forwardcenter Cheyenne Lopez (Roswell, NM Goddard) who would lead the push for Beaver, as she would score 8 of the team's first 10 points. With 4 minutes left in the first quarter, Lehigh Valley would take what would be their last lead of the game as they went up 12-10. From there Beaver would really step on the gas, regaining the lead and building it up in the final minutes of the first quarter to go up 20-13. From there Beaver seemed to have both a lot of confidence and a lot of momentum, as they continued another back and forth battle with Lehigh where they played tough and answered back for every point Lehigh seemed to score. By the 5 minute mark of the second quarter Beaver would have a double digit, 31-19, lead that they wouldn't surrender for the rest of the game. Going into halftime everything seemed to be going Beaver's way. With a firm grasp on the momentum of the game the Lady Lions were up 42-30 as they scored 6 points in the final minute of the half, making it 48-30 at halftime.
Beaver continued to dominate in the second half, as they kept their foot on the gas and continued forcing turnovers from a Lehigh team that would end up turning the ball over 31 times in this matchup. Even though Lehigh would outscore Beaver in the third quarter 13-12, the game never felt like it was slipping from Beaver's grasp as they continued to pressure Lehigh and carry the momentum of the game. By the time this matchup reached the fourth quarter the game seemed like it was all but over, as all Beaver needed to do was hold their lead for those final 10 minutes. However, Beaver wasn't interested in just holding their lead as they would outscore Lehigh 24-21 in the final ten minutes to seal their victory over Lehigh Valley and send themselves to this year's PSUAC championship game by a final score of 84-64.
This was a dominant performance both offensively and defensively by the Lady Lions of Penn State Beaver, as Beaver was able to give themselves plenty of scoring opportunities and shut down Lehigh's offense by forcing 31 turnovers in this game. The two stars of the night for Penn State Beaver were Junior guard Diamond Thomas, who recorded a double-double with 22 points and 12 rebounds, and Sophmore forward Jimya Chambers, who also recorded a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds. With this victory, Beaver has punched their ticket to the PSUAC championship game this Sunday, March 1, against the women of Penn State Brandywine at the Bryce Jordan Center in University Park, PA.