The Penn State Harrisburg women's basketball team started out scoring within the first six seconds of the game by having Kaitlyn Carmo (Palmyra, Pa. / Palmyra) hitting a quick 3 pointer in their Capital Athletic Conference (CAC) matchup Wednesday February 12th against the Marymount Saints. Once that basket was made, the Lion's put immediate pressure on the Lady Saints forcing them to run the clock out on their first possession. The Saints knew they were going to have a tough time once they realized how aggressive Harrisburg started out playing on both ends of the court.
Rachel Moyer (Carlisle, Pa. / Cumberland Valley) showed she was a force to be reckoned with as she dominated inside play early on. This helped the Blue and White take an 11-10 lead with 13 minutes to go in the half. The Saints responded quickly and hit three straight from downtown to take a 21-13 lead midway through the first. They also started to improve on their defensive end, but the Lady Lions figured out getting into the paint and driving was going to produce numbers, which it did. Rebecca Bailey (Tobyhanna, Pa. / Notre Dame of East Stroudsburg) started to do what she does best, driving past multiple their defenders and getting to the basket. This helped the Lions make a minor run and keep things within reach.
The Saints had to adjust and protect the paint to stop the Lions from getting back into the game. After defensive stops on both ends from each team, Carmo hit another 3 pointer with five minutes left . The Lady Lions then turned on their aggressive play again by driving to the basket, forcing the Saints to foul and send multiple girls to the charity stripe. Even though Jasmine Yanich (Harrisburg, Pa. / Susquehanna Township) was in foul trouble quickly in the first half, she showed the Saints she was not afraid to still drive to the basket.
Marymount finished the half with what was working for them for most of the night, working the ball around until they found someone open for a spot up three pointers. This helped the Saints make a mini run in the final two minutes and go into the locker rooms up 42-31.
In the second half of play the Lady Lions showed tremendous amount of passion and energy, diving for every loose ball and sacrificing their body for the team. This became a very physical game for both teams. Again, the Lions started off very strong with Lucky Snpyse (Philadelphia, Pa. / George Washington Carver) getting to the paint forcing the foul to go along with her made basket in the first 20 seconds of the game. The whole bench jumped up was hype cheering on their teammates. With that support from the team the Blue and White went on a seven point run in a quick fashion forcing the Saints to call a timeout with 18:39 left to play in the second half now only leading 44-37.
After the timeout, the Saints went back to working the ball around until they had open looks which continued to hurt Harrisburg. Marymount obviously did their scouting report as well as they were all over Carmo on and off the ball which enhanced the physicality of the game. The Lions did not back down and continued to drive either to get to the paint and score or dish the ball out to one of their teammates to put up a jump shot.
Unfortunately as time started to wind down, Snypse, Yanich, and Bailey all fouled out. Hannah Jorich (Middletown, Pa. / Middletown) took over the leadership at the guard position calling their plays and distributing the ball to her teammates well, but by this point the game was out of reach. Marymount stalled for most of the final five minutes as they held for good shots while also killing off the clock. The Blue and White showed great amounts of passion in the both halves, but Marymount's shooting was too much as they cruised to an 89-53 win.
This loss ends the Lions hopes for a playoff run, but they have showed plenty of pride tonight and we would expect another hard working performance this weekend on the road. They travel to face off against CAC second place and 13th in the country Christopher Newport Saturday February 15th.