Penn State Scranton Lady Lions Basketball Wins Home Opener

By: Ross Turetsky, Penn State Scranton Athletics

DUNMORE, Pa. - On a Friday night in the electric city, the Penn State Scranton Lady Lions basketball squad were victorious in their home opener 54-41 over non-conference foe Sussex County Community College. With this win, Scranton improves their overall record to a perfect 2-0 on the young hoops season after winning their season opener on the road in impressive fashion this past Wednesday evening by a score of 60-49 over Lehigh Carbon Community College.

After outscoring Sussex by nine points in the first quarter of play, 20-11, the road warriors came storming back outscoring Scranton 14-4 in the second quarter to go into the half-time break in the action with a slim, one point, 25-24 advantage as they went to the locker room. Sussex outscored Scranton by a mere two points, 14-12, in the third period to take a slim three point lead, 39-36, heading into the fourth and final quarter of play. However, the hometown Lions from Scranton would come roaring back and dominated the fourth quarter, outscoring Sussex by a whopping 16 points, 18-2, to capture their dazzling 13 point victory when the game's final buzzer sounded.

Scranton was led on offense by a quartet of double digit scoring performances, as the hat trick of freshmen Jay Contorno, Lexi Corby, and Lexi Iveson, to go along with senior Alahnna Balbach set the pace for their squad. Contorno scored a team-high 16 points, drilling in a trio of shots from three point land, to go along with six rebounds, a pair of assists, and had a steal in her stellar 38-minutes of game action. Corby notched a double-double, with 15 points and 10 boards, to go along with a couple of steals, an assist, and a block. Iveson tallied a solid 13 points, connected on a pair of shots from beyond the arc, had five rebounds, two assists, and a steal in the contest. Last but certainly not least, Balbach also had a stalwart double-double, scoring 10 points to go along with her 11 boards, three steals, two assists, while playing all 40-minutes of the ball game.

Meanwhile, Sussex had the dynamic duo of Riley Feichtl and Anna Torrpey score in double figures in the matchup. Feichtl scored a game-high 22 points on a highly efficient 11-19 shooting from the field, to go along with her team-high eight rebounds, while playing a quality 36 minutes on the court. Finally, Torrpey tallied 10 points on 4-9 shooting from the field, as well as putting up six boards, a couple of assists, a pair of steals, and played 34-minutes on the floor.

Now long-time head coach Tom McIntyre and his 2-0 Penn State Scranton Lady Lions basketball team will look to stay undefeated when they next host the Penn State Scranton Women's Basketball Tip-Off Tournament with games kicking-off next Friday afternoon during Veteran's Day weekend.