Keuka, N.Y. – The Penn State Abington women's basketball team cut an 16-point deficit down to one in the second half, but came up short Sunday afternoon as Keuka College recorded a 76-64 conference win at Weed Arts Gymnasium. The loss puts Abington at 6-6 in conference play and 8-11 overall, while Keuka remains at top of the north division at 13-1 and 16-2 on the season.

Senior forward Trish Watson scored in double figures for the 17^th time in as many games, netting 23 to lead four Lady Lions in double figures. Juniors Janay Winston and Jaclyn Vandiver added 16 and 10 points while sophomore netted 15 and pulled down a team-best eight rebounds for the Blue and White.

Keuka outdueled Abington in just about every statistical category, ending up with a 23-18 advantage in assists and a 13-6 advantage in steals. The Lady Lions fired at a 38.5-percent clip from the field while Keuka hit 50.7 percent of it attempts. On the glass, Keuka enjoyed a 40-35 advantage while Abington picked up 11 offensive boards.

Keuka's Erica Pendrak scored the game's first basket with a layup just sparked an 8-0 run to open the first half as the Storm, the north division leader with just one conference loss, hoped to wash out the Lady Lions quickly. The Lady Lions hoped to pace their way into the game off a layup by Abington's forward Jessica Schmidt at the 16:59 mark, but Keuka sparked another run to extend the lead by as much as 11 points in a span of fifty seconds.

The Lady Lions, trailing 13-2, were fed up with missed shots and finally kicked into gear. In a span of just four minutes, Schmidt tallied two layups for four points followed by Jessica Vandiver's five with a trey and jumper as the margin began to dwindle as Abington saw itself trailing by just two points with less than 12:27 to go in the first stanza.

The Storm rekindled once again, as a pair of baskets by Pendrak and Brittany Hadley made it a six point lead. However, the Lady Lions' Schmidt and Vandiver tandem continued as a layup followed by a trey, respectively, once again had Abington looking to take over the lead, trailing by one at the 9:31 mark.

As both teams traded baskets on a pair of possessions, Megan Onslager looked to drive towards the basket, only to feed a pass to teammate Trish Watson, who then nailed a basket from beyond the arc to tie up the game at 24 points apiece with just seven minutes remaining. Keuka then waited patiently and took advantage of the defensive rebounds and converted a 15-4 run to fend off the Lady Lions in the final five minutes of the half to make it a 40-29 game at intermission.

The second stanza had Keuka storming out once again, leading by as much as 16 points before Watson nailed a three off a feed by Vandiver at the 15:39 mark to spark a comeback for the Lady Lions. The Storm hoped to keep Abington at bay, but a pair of baskets by Schmidt and Vandiver, followed by another trey from Watson had Abington trailing by just six points.

Jessica Bandrowski nailed a basket from beyond the arc to make a nine point margin for the Storm, however Abington kept battling its way back into the game as Watson responded with a pair of baskets from the stripe and a three-pointer, followed by Janay Winston's two to cut the deficit to four points in a span of just sixty seconds, forcing Keuka to burn a timeout at the 10:15 mark.

After the timeout, the Storm came out of the huddle with fortitude to put the game out of reach and did just that off a three-pointer by Bandroski and back to back buckets from Danielle Gravel with both assists from Bandrowski to put Keuka up 70-58 with 4 minutes to play. The Lady Lions hoped to remain in contention but struggled to hit their marks during the final minutes, despite a trio of layups by Winston, as Keuka held on for a 76-64 decision.

The Blue and White will hit the road to Morristown, N.J. on Tuesday, February 5th to wrap up the remainder of the game against the College of St. Elizabeth, which was suspended and postponed at the half due to power outages last week.  The game will resume with the Screaming Eagles up 37-27 to start the second half.

The next day, Abington will return home to host Penn State Berks on Wednesday, February 6^th in its annual Pink Zone night. Gametime is set for 6:00 p.m. and you can get all your updates on the Lady Lions right here at abingtonsports.com.