MIDDLETOWN, PA - The Penn State Harrisburg women´s basketball team kicked off their season Wednesday, November 18th with a 52-47 loss to Penn State Schuylkill at the Capital Union Building.

In spite of shooting 35% from the field, Penn State Harrisburg held the lead at half, 25-19. Penn State Schuylkill also shot 35% but only connected on 3 of 9 from the charity stripe to Harrisburg´s 8 of 15.

After the break, the Lady Lions were able to inflate their lead to seven off a layup by freshman Stephanie Yetter(Thompsontown, PA/East Juniata) assist by Dorthea Dixon(Middletown, PA/Middletown) with 17:45 remaining.

The visiting Lions tied the game at 38 with a Tia Lyons layup with 8:36 remaining in the second half starting a 12-0 run to put the Schuylkill lead to ten. The Lady Lions answered back with a 9-0 run of their own capped off by two free throws from sophomore Amaris Gardner(Virginia Beach, VA/Bayside) with 1:08 remaining.

Missed Lady Lion´s layups and a 5-0 run by Penn State Schuylkill, the visiting Lions were able to hand the blue and white their first defeat on the season.

Gardner finished with 12 points, five rebounds, two assists and two steals in 38 minutes. Freshmen Yetter and Nicola Zangari (Etters, PA/Red Land) contributed 11 points, eight rebounds and 10 points, seven rebounds respectively. Freshman Brittany Adams (Dillsburg, PA/Northern) came off the bench for seven points.

Harrisburg (0-1) will travel to play in the Albright College Tournament were they will face off against the host team Saturday, November 21st at 3:00 P.M.