Box Score Abington, Pa. – It was another tale of two halves for the Penn State Abington women's basketball squad when they faced off against SUNYIT earlier Saturday afternoon. The Nittany Lions ran out to a 35-25 lead in a solid first half performance, but couldn't hold off the Wildcats' charge late and finally fell by a score of 68-61. Sophomore forward Lauren Knowles led all scorers with 24 points in the game, including 15 in the visitors' second half comeback. The Nittany Lions were without leading scorer Jessica Schmidt due to injury, but they got extremely strong performances out of guards Teharah Worrell and Stephanie Keyes, who combined to go 17 of 38 from the field for a total of 40 points.
 
The first ten minutes of the game opened with each side trading buckets and taking small leads, only to see them retaken by the other side. This trend started from the opening tip, as SUNYIT (13-5, 9-1) took the ball straight down the court and drained a three, then saw Keyes come to the other end of the court and sink a triple herself. The Wildcats managed to go ahead by three a few minutes later, but then Penn State Abington (4-13, 2-9 NEAC) put together a 7-0 run to take a 12-8 lead of their own. Keyes drilled another deep three to open things, and then followed that up with a layup on the next possession. The run was capped off by another layup from Worrell to give the Nittany Lions their biggest lead to that point. With 4:32 left to play in the half, things were still close, as the hosts were clinging to a slim 25-23 lead. However, over the remaining time in the half, Penn State Abington used dominant defense and quick attacks to go on a 10-2 run to close out the frame. Breanna Lineman started the charge with a smooth jumper from just inside the free throw stripe. After Knowles answered with a jumper of her own in the paint, Keyes brought the ball down to the other end and continued the hot shooting with a made jumper of her own. After forcing a turnover, Janay Winston got in on the action with another jumper, and then Keyes made two more shots over the final minute to cap off the scoring spree and give the Nittany Lions a 35-25 lead headed into the locker room at halftime.
 
Unfortunately, the second half was a completely different story for the Blue and White. Every area in which the team had excelled in the first half – points in the paint, points off turnovers, second chance offence – turned into huge gains for SUNYIT. Perhaps the most telling stat of the half was points off turnovers. What had been a 9-6 first half advantage for Penn State Abington in the first frame suddenly flipped to a 16-2 advantage for SUNYIT in the second. The Wildcats constantly found ways to pound the ball down low and finish with layups over Nittany Lion defenders, and the main benefactor of that attack was Knowles. Penn State Abington managed to extend their lead to as high as 13 points with 17:05 left to play out of the halftime break. However, Knowles scored 15 of her points over those final 17 minutes and turned what had been a big Abington lead into a double-digit deficit with 3:30 left to play. The Nittany Lions tried to chip away at that lead, and did manage to get back to within four when Keyes drove hard into the paint and scored a layup with 24 seconds left to play. However, the team would not find the bottom of the basket from there on out, and SUNYIT made all their free throws late to come out of Abington with a 68-61 victory.
 
Penn State Abington did get some positives out of today's challenging defeat however, including a career-high 20 points from Worrell. Keyes added another 20 plus eight rebounds, while Winston knocked in ten points and Quadirah Scott grabbed a career-high ten rebounds. Meanwhile, Knowles closed the game out with a double-double, scoring 24 points and grabbing 13 boards. The Nittany Lions will look to break out of their current funk when they next hit the court this Tuesday, February 11^th against Penn State Berks. The Nittany Lions will be looking to break out of the four-game losing streak they are on, as well as give Berks some payback for the close two-point loss they gave to Abington on January 29^th this year. Game time is set for 8:00 p.m. on the campus of Penn State Berks, and as always, be sure to keep checking in here at abingtonsports.com for all your news and notes on Penn State Abington athletics.