Selinsgrove, Pa.-Penn State Harrisburg clinched their first season victory in a nail-biting performance over Staten Island on Saturday night, Nov. 22. The Lady Lion's creative offense and aggressive defense helped them to defeat the Staten Island Dolphins in an exciting 65-59 win.
The entire contest was a fight to the end. The first half started off slow as both teams struggled to get shots off. It took two minutes for the Dolphins to bucket a 3 point shot. The Lions answered back with a lay-up by Janel Brown (Gaithersburg, Md./ Magruder). Then both teams were off to the races going shot for shot. The first half ended 29-28 with Penn State Harrisburg taking the one point advantage into the locker room.
Kiara Carter (Bronx, N.Y. / Milton Hershey) was a power force with 14 points and 13 rebounds. Carter went 4-8 from the field and was 6-7 on the free throw line. Carter wasn't the only one dominating the foul line, Penn State Harrisburg Jasmine Yanich (Harrisburg, Pa. / Susquehanna Township) had a perfect game from the foul line making all of her six free throws. As a team Penn State Harrisburg controlled the game from the line; finishing 18-22 throughout the night.
The second half started like the first, with both teams battling to take the lead. There was a drought period of 4 minutes where there was no score. Then Rachel Moyer (Carlisle, Pa. / Cumberland Valley) started the flame with a layup with 14:46 left in the contest. After that the Lady Lions were able to keep a lead for the remainder of the game, but the Lions had to fight until the very end. With only 40 seconds left in the game the Dolphins Victoria Crea made a three point shot to put the game within three points 57-54. Fortunately, the contribution from both Carter and Yanich from the foul line sealed the victory for the Lions for their first win of the season 65-59.