Women’s Basketball Run Past PSU Wilkes-Barre, 62-41

By: Frank Maira, Assistant Director of Athletics/Sports Information Director

MONT ALTO, Pa. – The Penn State Mont Alto women's basketball team overcame a cold shooting start to run away for the 62-41 win over Penn State Wilkes-Barre on Friday night. Mont Alto improved to 7-12 overall and 4-9 in the PSUAC while the visiting Lions dropped to 6-10 overall and 3-9 in the conference.

Inside the Box Score

• Mont Alto overcame a cold shooting first quarter (20.0%) to finish 36.8 percent from the field and 5-of-22 from 3-point range.
• Madison Bishop (Newville, Pa. / Big Spring) led all scorers with 17 points and the freshman guard also corralled six rebounds.
• PSUMA's defense held Wilkes-Barre to 32.7 percent shooting from the floor and also finished with a 31-26 advantage in rebounds.
• Mariah Martin (Shippensburg, Pa. / Shippensburg) recorded her fourth double-double of the season with 16 points and 10 rebounds. The reigning PSUAC Player of the Week also added a pair of steals.
• Kyah Rucker (Harrisburg, Pa. / Harrisburg) knocked down a big 3-pointer and Meagan Smith (Littlestown, Pa. / Littlestown) added six points and six rebounds off Coach Miller's bench.

How it Happened

• Despite the team's cold shooting, Mont Alto still held a 10-4 advantage going into the second quarter. Wilkes-Barre began the period on a 5-0 run that was halted by a Madison Bishop (Newville, Pa. / Big Spring) 3-pointer. On the ensuing possession, Mont Alto went up 20-10 after a Kara Newell (Shippensburg, Pa. / Shippensburg) steal and fast break layup.
• Mont Alto built a 27-12 lead after a Rebekah Adams (York, Pa. / Central York) layup that was assisted by fellow senior Karley Coleman (Hanover, Pa. / Delone Catholic).
• The visitors shot a dismal 5-of-25 from the field and were 0-of-6 from downtown, which enabled Mont Alto to carry a 31-12 lead into halftime.
• A 7-0 run by Wilkes-Barre in the middle of the 3^rd quarter cut the deficit to 37-21. Mont Alto responded with six-straight of their own points that was finished off by an easy layup by Martin that was assisted by Karley Coleman. Wilkes-Barre called a timeout trailing 45-28.
• Mont Alto closed the period with strong defense and the Nittany Lions played a clean fourth quarter maintaining a 15-point advantage throughout. The team held on for the 62-41 final.

Penn State Mont Alto square off against another PSUAC opponent when it host PSU Scranton for a 1 p.m. game on Saturday, February 2.