Scranton Lady Lions Drop a Close One to New Kensington

By: Ross Turetsky, Penn State Scranton Athletics

In thrilling Friday night lights hoops action, the hometown Penn State Scranton Lady Lions basketball team fell to conference foe Penn State New Kensington, 59-51, in a highly competitive game that went right down to the wire. With this nail-biter defeat, Scranton sees their overall record move to 0-9 and 0-6 in the all-important league play schedule.

For the first time this season, Scranton was able to hold their own and keep the game close for their entire 40 minutes on the court, as they showed vast improvement in all areas of their play. The road warriors from New Kensington held a slim 16-13 advantage at the end of the first quarter before stretching their lead to 11 points, 30-19, at half-time. However, the Scranton Lady Lions would come roaring back with plenty of determination and grit in the second half of play, as they outscored their opponent 14-11 in the third period, and were all knotted up at 18-18 in the fourth and final stanza, to only lose by a respectable eight points and keep the deficit to a mere single digits for the first time this whole season.

Scranton had two players score in double figures in the contest, as freshman guard Megan Gatto and senior team captain Sam Collins set the pace on the offensive attack. Gatto recorded a double-double, as she scored a game-high 25 points and 15 rebounds, to go along with her seven assists, two steals, and a block in her awe-inspiring 37 minutes on the floor. Meanwhile Collins also notched a double-double, putting up 11 points and 11 boards, to go along with a trio of blocks, two assists, while shooting a highly efficient 5-8 from the field. Honorable mention also goes to sophomore guard Ashlyn McNally and fellow sophomore Alicia Gagner. McNally tallied eight points, five boards, three assists, and connected on two of her shots from three point land, while Gagner was solid down low grabbing an impressive seven rebounds in the conference battle.

On the New Kensington side of things, they had a trio of players score in double digits on the night, as freshman Esther Cole, fellow freshman Najah Perryman, and senior forward Shaylynne Boitnott led the way. Cole tallied a double-double during the festivities, scoring a team-high 23 points and 12 rebounds, to go along with her five steals, four assists, while shooting a stalwart 11-18 from the field, even making good on her only attempt from beyond the arc, in her strong 28 minutes on the court. Perryman put up 14 points, to go along with her six boards, four assists, two steals, and a block. Last but certainly not least, Boitnott just missed out on a double-double of her own, with her 12 points, eight rebounds, three assists, two steals, and two block performance. Altogether, these three star offensive efforts combined to score a whopping 49 out of their team's 59 total points scored in the contest.

Now head coach Tom McIntyre and his Penn State Scranton Lady Lions basketball squad will look to capture their first victory of the season when they host conference rival Penn State Shenango on Saturday afternoon, with tip-off scheduled for 3pm. Meanwhile, Penn State New Kensington head coach Mike McGoff, who used to be the beloved assistant coach for McIntyre at Scranton, had a successful homecoming, as his team snapped their seven game losing streak to begin their 2022-2023 hoops campaign with this win, as their overall record improves to 1-7 and

1-6 in crucial league play. Now McGoff's ball club will look to continue their winning ways when they travel on the road to face off with conference foe Penn State Wilkes-Barre this Saturday afternoon at 1pm