Scranton Lady Lions Fall to Rival Wilkes-Barre

By: Ross Turetsky, Penn State Scranton Athletics

In their Saturday afternoon matinee to kick-off their busy December hoops schedule, the Penn State Scranton Lady Lions basketball squad dropped a 71-34 road conference showdown to Penn State Wilkes-Barre. With the defeat, Scranton's overall record falls to 0-8 and in the all-important league play they now stand at 0-5.

The hometown Wilkes-Barre Lions got off to a high flying start and never looked back, as they outscored Scranton 17-6 in the first quarter, 16-8 in the second, 23-10 in the third stanza, and in the fourth and final frame 15-10, as they cruised to a dominant 37 point victory.

Scranton had two of their players score in double figures, as stand-out freshman Megan Gatto and senior Sam Collins led the way on offense. Gatto notched an impressive double-double, as she scored a team-high 13 points and 14 rebounds, to go along with her four steals and two blocks. Collins, a consistent stalwart low post presence game after game, put up a solid 11 points and eight boards on the day, to go along with five blocks and an assist. Honorable mention also goes to Emily Cron who tallied eight points and seven rebounds, to go along with a block, and Alicia Gagner who had an awe-inspiring 10 boards in the contest.

Meanwhile on the Wilkes-Barre side of things, they were led on offense by four of their players scoring in doubling digits, as sophomore Stephanie Jaramillo, freshman Logine Moustafa, fellow freshman Hannah Cook, and junior Quatazia Johnson set the pace. Jaramillo scored a game-high 18 points, to go along with her five rebounds, four steals, two blocks, two assists, and shot a red hot 9-11 from the field. Moustafa put up 12 points, a trio of steals, two assists, and one rebound. Cook notched 10 points, four steals, and two assists on the day. Last but certainly not least, Johnson came off the bench and provided a nice spark for her club, as she had a 10 point, four rebound, four steal, and one assist solid effort. Overall, these top four scorers for Wilkes-Barre combined to score an impressive 50 out of their team's 71 total points in the matchup.

Now head coach Tom McIntyre and his Penn State Scranton Lady Lions basketball squad will look to bounce back and capture their first win of the season in their next matchup, when they host conference foe Penn State New Kensington this upcoming Friday, December 9^th, with tip-off scheduled for 8pm. Meanwhile, head coach LeShawn Hammett and his Wilkes-Barre ball club, who snapped a four game losing streak with their home victory over local rival Scranton, sees their overall record improve to 2-4 and 1-3 in league play, as they will next take the court this Friday night at 6pm when they host another crucial conference battle with Penn State Shenango.