The Penn State Behrend women's basketball team suffered a defeat at the hands of the Medaille Mavericks on Wednesday, February 3 by a final score of 60 to 50.
The first twenty minutes saw up and down the floor action as neither team seemed like they wanted to slow down the pace. Behrend jumped out to an early 8-0 lead as freshman Taylor Lotis (Jefferson Hills/Thomas Jefferson) nailed two from downtown and Christine Krankota (Conneaut Lake/Conneaut Lake) converted on a sweet wrap around pass from teammate Amy Oldach (Erie/Villa Maria). Medaille would go on a tremendous 18-0 run after a timeout called at the 17:30 mark in the first half. Behrend could not seem to find the hoop for several minutes until Aly Eagle (Harmony/Seneca Valley) hit a three at the 4:27 mark to put the game at 18-11 in favor of the Mavericks. Behrend trailed at the half by a score of 22-14. Lotis led the team in points with six while Oldach dished out three assists. The blue and white shot 13% from field while the Mavericks shot 33.3%.
Out of the locker room, Behrend climbed their way back into the game with good defense and the shots started to fall. The blue and white cut the lead to three with a three-point field goal from Oldach at the 15:58 mark. Medaille would not look back however as they increased their lead to ten with just over 11 minutes to play in the game. The blue and white got the score cut to five with just over three minutes to play when Kelly Nowacinski (Erie/Mercyhurst Prep) made a bucket to put the score at 50-45. Behrend would get no closer than four as the Mavericks pulled away in the end and sealed the victory. Oldach would finish with a team high 13 points to go along with five assists. Nowacinski would chip in with 12 and Eagle with 11. Leading the Mavericks was Kacie Mills with 15 points and four assists and Tiffany Sullivan would add 10 points and 13 rebrounds.
With the loss, Behrend drops to 7-7 in the conference and 9-9 overall. The Mavericks see their record improve to 19-2 overall and a perfect 16-0 in the AMCC. Next up for the Behrend Lions will be two conference road tests starting on Saturday, February 6 at Pitt-Greensburg. The blue and white will stay on the road when they take on Pitt-Bradford on Wednesday, February 10. Behrend will be back at home on Saturday, February 13 when they battle the La Roche Redhawks in a key conference matchup.
