Du Bois Balance and Bench Scoring Sink Hazleton

After a thrilling, last second win Tuesday night, the Lady Lions of Penn State Hazleton couldn't pull off the magic a second time in a week and fell to PSUAC foe Penn State Du Bois 86-71.  With the loss Hazleton falls to 6-7 on the season and 3-4 in the conference. The one-two power punch of Hazleton's Mckenzie Prutsman and Kendra Pfeil along with teammate Mekenzie Wolfe just wasn't enough on this night. 

Prutsman led all scorers with 28 points, followed by Pfeil's 20 points and Wolfe's 10 points.  Unfortunately for Hazleton, the Lions of Du Bois spread out the scoring between five different players and totally dominated the paint keeping Hazleton from getting any second chance points all night. For Du Bois Kristen Williams led the team scoring with 15 points, Cierra O'Shell added 13 points, Melody Young added another 13 points and Hope Bridge added 13 points of her own; Lauren Young added 12 points on the night to finish out the double-digit scorers.  In addition to their scoring, the Young's also pulled down a combined 34 rebounds totalling more than the entire Hazlteon team (Melody with 19 and Lauren with 15).

Both teams started out cold in the first quarter only hitting on 36% of their shots with the quarter endeing with Du Boise holding a slim 19 to 13 lead.  Hazleton got the hot hand in the second quarter hitting 50% of their shots and actully outscored Du Bois 22-20 in the quarter with the first half in the books and Du Bois holding a slim 39-35 lead.  The second half started as the first ended with Hazleton shooting well and Du Bois holding their own.  Once again, the scoring difference was slim seeing Du Boise holding the scoring edge for the quarter 21-20 and holding a 55-40 lead.  The final quarter spelled doom for Hazleton as Du Bois depth proved to be too much and they outscored the local Lady Lions by 10, 26-14 and ending the night with an 86-71 victory.

Reviewing the stats, the game was very even on many counts with the exception of rebounds.  Du Boise totally dominatd the paint pulling down 64 boards to Hazleton's 25.  While Du Bois owned the boards, neither team could find the bottom of the backet from the paint with no one scoring off of offensive rebounds.  Du Bois made the most of their rebounds however scoring 32 second chance points.  Both teams shot 38-39% from the floor and Du Bois doubled up Hazleton in three point attempts 33-16%. 

The Hazleton women look to bounce back in a Sunday matinee game when they play the Knights of Berkeley College (NY) at home in Hazleton.  Tip off is scheduled for 2:00 pm.