GREENVILLE, Pa. – Thiel halted the Penn State Behrend women's basketball second-half comeback to hold on for a five-point victory at 58-53 in non-conference action on Tuesday night.
Hannah Stoneman, who led the Tomcats (1-2) with 22 points and 11 rebounds, scored her final two points in the last second of the game from the free-throw line to put the Lions (1-2) out of a three-point attempt at the end.
Sarah Schweitzer (Bridgeville, PA/South Fayette) and Sadie Zielinski (Erie, PA/Harborcreek) scored double figures for Behrend. Schweitzer went 6-for-10 from the field for a team-best 14 points and Zielinski added 11 points and five rebounds.
Thiel outscored the Lions 31-20 in the first half, beginning with a 9-1 start. It took the next 29 seconds for Behrend to warm up and return the favor with a 15-4 run to take its first lead of the half at 16-13. Schwietzer added seven points in the spurt, while Zielinski and Hannah Novotny (Cabot, PA/Knoch) each drained a three.
Stoneman then took over for Thiel and scored eight points of the final 13 points of the half for a 31-20 lead at intermission.
The Tomcats kept a 14-point lead in the second half until the 11:17 mark, when Behrend began to chip away at that lead. Zielinski drained a layup and Brianna Bayly (Imperial, PA/West Allegheny) completed the three-point play, before Zielinski hit the front end of two at the line and grabbing her offensive rebound for the put back to make it 46-40.
The Lions got within four on many occasions in the final four minutes and got it to 56-53 with three seconds left on a Natalie Corso (Moon Township, PA/Moon) trey and Novotny layup. With need the ball back, Behrend fouled and Stoneman made two from the charity stripe for the final margin.
Stoneman finished 8-for-8 from the line and Thiel was 11-for-13 as a team.
The Lions return to action on Wednesday, December 4 against D'Youville in the Junker Center. Game time is at 8 p.m.