BETHLEHEM, PA (Dec. 30 & 31, 2016) - The Penn State Lehigh Valley Women's Basketball team competed in the Roosevelt's 21st Greyhound Basketball Classic hosted by Moravian College for the 1st time ever. Despite a great effort, PSULV dropped both games to NCAA Division 3 powers Moravian College 83-74 and Delaware Valley University 72-54.
MORAVIAN RECAP:
The Nittany Lions, who lost for the first time in 2016-17 after a 7-0 start, closed within two points, 30-28, just two minutes into the second quarter, However, Moravian pushed the lead back into double digits at 40-29 with a jumper at the 2:07 mark. Moravian headed to the locker room with a 43-36 advantage.
Penn State Lehigh Valley closed again early in the third quarter to trail just 47-44 1:44 into the period. Moravian would give the Hounds a 62-48 lead with a three-pointer at the 2:58 mark, and Moravian headed to the final quarter with a 66-54 edge.
Andrea Watkins led PSULV with 20 points. Ebony Sanders recorded 18 points and 10 rebounds. Hannah Bankes and Ashley Gordon chipped in with 12 a piece.
DEL VAL RECAP:
Delaware Valley University Aggies connected on 13 3-pointers to defeat Penn State Lehigh Valley, 72-54, in the consolation game of the 14th Roosevelts 21st Greyhound Classic at Moravian College
The victory earned DelVal third place in the tournament as they improved to 4-6 overall on the season. The Lions fell to 7-2 overall.
In this contest, Penn State Lehigh Valley started the game on an 8-0 run behind six consecutive points from Andrea Watkins. After a DVU free throw got DelVal on the board, the Aggies got hot from beyond the arc as they each hit consecutive 3-pointers to pull within one at 14-13 with 5:03 left in the first. Nearly three minutes later, Del Val connected on back-to-back jumpers and hit another trey to cap off what was a 13-1 DelVal run that put them on top, 20-14. DVU hit the sixth Aggies trey of the stanza for a 23-15 lead going into the second.
DVU connected on back-to-back 3-pointers to start the second quarter and increase the advantage to 14. The Aggies led by as many as 17 points in the stanza, but the Lions closed out the half with a 7-0 run to make it a 43-34 game at the break.
DelVal responded by started the third quarter just as it did the second with back-to-back treys. The two teams combined for just 23 points in the quarter and the Aggies maintained a 55-45 advantage into the fourth quarter. In that final stanza, DelVal hit twice more from downtown and outscored Penn State Lehigh Valley, 17-9, to take the consolation game by the final of 72-54.
The Lions were led by Watkins who registered 21 points, seven steals and five rebounds. Ashley Gordon contributed 18 points, eight boards and three assists while Ebony Sanders grabbed a team-high 10 rebounds and scored eight points.
Andrea Watkins was named to the All-Tournament team.