Lady Lions out-duel DuBois in first conference win, 89-60

By: Matylda Zamudio 

DuBois, Pa. – Penn State Beaver outpaced Penn State DuBois 89- 60 on the road Tuesday night, securing the team's first PSUAC conference win of the season.

Sophomore guard Diamond Thomas (Pittsburgh/Carlynton) led the way for Beaver, scoring a game-high 16 points and also contributed four rebounds and six steals followed by freshman guard Alexis Cross (Columbiana) who poured in 14 points and five rebounds.

Senior USCAA First Team All-American, 2017-18 PSUAC All-Conference First Team and 2017-18 PSUAC Player of the Year forward Brittany Jackson (Turtle Creek/Westinghouse) had another great performance, earning a double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds off the bench followed by sophomore guard Libby Thomas (New Brighton) who tacked on 10 points off the bench in the 19 minutes she played. 

In the first quarter, Cross revved up the offense, making two jump shots in the first minute of the game and jumpstart a 14-0 run for Beaver at the 7:25 mark. Beaver controlled the tempo of the game, as the defense forced six turnovers by Dubois in seven minutes, driving Beaver to take a 32-11 lead with 34 seconds to go. Then, with only 23 seconds left in the first, Jackson suck a late 3-pt. jump shot to help Beaver end the quarter up 35-13. 

Beaver kept the energy up with two early steals by Thomas (Pittsburgh/Carlynton) to offset DuBois's rhythm in the second quarter and led in scoring for Beaver with 5 points in the three minutes she played and helped Beaver end the first half with a double-digit lead over DuBois (50-23).

Freshman forward Jimya Chambers (Phoenix/Westview) made an early jump shot on an assist by Thomas (Pittsburgh/Carlynton) to land Beaver on the boards first in the third quarter (52-23). The quarter faired closer for the teams, but Beaver shot 9.1 percent higher from the field than DuBois, 28.6 percent higher from 3-point range and 16.7 percent better at the free-throw line, which helped the team outscore DuBois by 5 points and led 72-44 heading into the fourth.

Thomas (New Brighton) made her presence known in the fourth, shooting 3-5 from the field to score 6 points in the fourth, and helping Beaver defeated DuBois with a final score of 89-60.

Box Score Highlights: Beaver outscored DuBois 32-6 in points off turnovers and 33-24 on points off the bench. Beaver had only 12 turnovers to DuBois' 26 turnovers.

After tonight's victory against DuBois, the Lady Lions are on a two-game winning streak and are now 1-0 in the conference standings and improve to 5-1 overall in the regular season.

Coach Sean Strickland said he was really proud of the team's focus and intensity tonight.

"This is a really well-coached team in a tough place to play. Our young team did a great job of being focused on what they needed to do, and they went out and do it," Strickland added.

The Lady Lions return to action on Nov. 30 for Friday's road game against conference rival Penn State Scranton. Game time is slated for 6 p.m.