Women’s Basketball Cruise Past Trinity Washington for First Win of 2020

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

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Penn State Mont Alto women's basketball team traveled D.C. this evening in a non-conference matchup. PSUMA ran away after the first quarter for the 75-36 victory over Trinity Washington University. With the win, the Nittany Lions improved to 2-9 overall.

Inside the Box Score

• Penn State Mont Alto shot a season best 55.2 percent from the field and converted on 4-of-13 shots from downtown. Mariah Martin (Shippensburg, Pa. / Shippensburg) led the Nittany Lions with 17 points and a pair of rebounds.
• Sophomore guard Meagan Smith (Littlestown, Pa. / Littlestown) netted a season-best 16 points and was nearly perfect from the field shooting 7-of-8. Backcourt mate Madison Bishop (Newville, Pa. / Big Spring) chipped in 12 points with a team-high seven boards.
• The PSUMA bench added 21 points for the Nittany Lions who capitalized on the turnovers.

How it Happened

• Mont Alto started the game on a 15-1 run that spanned the first six minutes of play and pushed the score to 17-5 after a Grace Banfe (Greencastle, Pa. / Shalom Christian Academy) jumper. Trinity Washington finished the quarter on a run of its own to close the gap to 17-11.
• The second quarter saw Mont Alto begin to really roll opening the period on a 14-5 run to once again go up double digits and was capped off by Mariah Martin (Shippensburg, Pa. / Shippensburg) layup. The sophomore forward hit the final shot before halftime with a jumper in the paint that was assisted by Sarah Thomas (West Orange, N.J. / West Orange).
• Mont Alto established a comfortable lead within the third quarter and held Trinity Washington to just five points. They only shot 22.2 percent from the field and were 1-for-3 from 3-point range. The Nittany Lions got out to a 46-point lead in the final period of play with 5:41 left on a Jesime Freet (Carlisle, Pa. / Carlisle) layup. PSUMA cruised down the stretch for the 75-36 final.

Up next, Mont Alto travels to Penn State DuBois retuning to PSUAC conference action on Friday, January 17. Game time is slated for 6 p.m.