Reading, Pa. - Wednesday December 30th, the Penn State Harrisburg women's basketball team battled non-conference opponent Alvernia, after spending some time off for Winter break. The Lions dominated the first quarter but trailed going into half time. Harrisburg pulled away in the fourth quarter and went on to defeat the Crusaders 77-68. 

The Lions started the first quarter off hot due to three back to back three's from Sophomore Alexis Nolan (Beltsville, Md. / St. Vincent Pallotti). Harrisburg went on to score a total of 21 points in the first, all 21 points were made up of seven different three pointers. The second quarter proved to be more difficult for the Lions. The Crusaders went on to score 22 points in the second while also limiting Harrisburg to only 12 points. Alvernia led 36-33 going into halftime. 

As the third quarter got underway, it was easy to see that both teams wanted to get the win. Each team struggled to keep the lead but Harrisburg worked well as a team to only trail the home team by two going into the final quarter. Seven different Harrisburg players contributed to the score in the third quarter. Penn State Harrisburg came out strong in the final quarter with two back to back buckets from Nolan and Jasmine Yanich (Harrisburg, Pa. / Susquehanna Township). Nolan and Yanich's combined total of 11 points in the first few minutes put Harrisburg back on top at 62-59. Senior Kiara Carter (Bronx, N.Y / Milton Hershey) also added two lay ups to extend the Lions lead by seven. The Crusaders made several efforts to come back in the last few minutes but the Lions held on to their lead. Offensively, Yanich led with 17 points and one rebound. Close behind was Nolan with 15 points and two rebounds. On the opposite end of the court, Kaitlyn Carmo (Palmyra, Pa. / Palmyra Area) led with eight rebounds and 11 points. 

Penn State Harrisburg will travel to York (Pa.) on Saturday January 2nd for their first game of 2016. Tip-off is scheduled for 1 pm.