Scranton Lady Lions Fall to Wilkes-Barre

By: Ross Turetsky, Penn State Scranton Athletics

In a Saturday afternoon road matinee, the visiting Penn State Scranton Lady Lions dropped a 48-35 tough battle with local conference rival Penn State Wilkes-Barre. With the defeat, Scranton sees their overall record move to 3-6 and they are 0-4 in their all-important league play schedule.

Wilkes-Barre got off to an early 14-8 lead at the end of the first quarter of play and took a commanding 24-12 advantage into the half-time break in the action. However, the Lions from Scranton would come roaring right back outscoring their opponent by eight points, 15-7, in the third period to cut the deficit to just four points, 31-27, going into the fourth and final frame. In the last quarter, Wilkes-Barre seized back control of the game outscoring Scranton by nine points, 17-8, to ensure their dominant 13 point home triumph when the game's final buzzer sounded.

Scranton had one lone player score in double figures in the contest, as freshman guard Lexi Iveson led the way offensively for her squad with a team-high 11 points, made a pair of three pointers, had a quartet of rebounds, and a steal to boot in her stalwart 38-minutes of game action. Honorable mention also goes to sophomore Megan Gatto and senior Alahnna Balbach who both put up solid performances on the day. Gatto just missed out on an impressive double-double with her nine points and 10 boards, going a near flawless 5-6 from the charity stripe, adding a steal, and a block on defense while playing in all 40-minutes of the ball game. Last but certainly not least, Balbach grabbed a team-high 13 rebounds, to go along with her four points, a couple of assists, and a block during the festivities.

Meanwhile, Wilkes-Barre had the dynamic duo of Tanae Arnold and Aysia Pink score in double digits to set the pace for their ball club. Arnold scored a game-high 14 points, nabbed five boards, and five assists in her 40-minutes on the court. Finally, Pink came off the bench and provided a nice spark in only 13-minutes on the floor, tallying 12 points on an efficient 4-7 shooting from the field, a perfect 3-3 from long distance, made her only free throw shot, and added a trio of rebounds for good measure.

Now long-time head coach Tom McIntyre and his 3-6 Penn State Scranton Lady Lions basketball team will look to bounce back and snap their six game losing streak when they next go on the road to face off with non-conference foe Sussex County Community College this upcoming Tuesday night, with a 6pm scheduled tip-off time. Sussex County Community College will be looking to avenge their 54-41 early hoops season road loss at Scranton from back on November 3^rd.