SCHUYLKILL HAVEN — For the Penn State Schuylkill basketball teams Thursday night, their games were lost opportunities.
“Very much so,” Penn State Schuylkill women’s interim head coach Darle Cresswell said.
Cresswell’s team was unable to hold onto a nine-point lead at the outset and fell 45-42 to Penn State Wilkes-Barre in a Penn State University Athletic Conference game at the Health and Wellness Center.
The same thing happened in the men’s game which followed. Penn State Schuylkill owned a 10-point lead and then scored just four points over the next 18:44, turning that lead into an eventual 67-51 loss to Penn State Wilkes-Barre.
By the time the host Lion men broke the 30-point barrier, Penn State Wilkes-Barre held a 24-point lead.
That did not happen in the women’s game. Bidding for their second consecutive victory, Penn State Schuylkill had the final possession with five seconds remaining and needed to go the length of the court for a game-tying 3-pointer.
“Well, Madison (Blasko) had fouled out, so we had to make some adjustments,” Cresswell said. “Basically, we were trying to get a flash (to the post) from a big (player) and get the guard coming off it. What ended up happening was the guard had to come all the way back and we had to go to the opposite (side).”
That put the ball in the hands of Samantha Cook, who earlier had scored a 3-pointer for her lone basket. This time, her shot was late and missed the mark, enabling Penn State Wilkes-Barre to end a five-game losing streak.
Penn State Schuylkill (4-4, 2-4 PSUAC) led 36-35 after a baseline jumper by Colleen Druby with 7:34 remaining, but Penn State Wilkes-Barre (4-7, 1-4) answered with a 3-pointer by Shauntel Williams and never trailed after that point.
Williams’ shot was one of eight 3-point baskets by the visitors, who converted an equal number of 2- and 3-point goals. Penn State Wilkes-Barre scored three of its eight 3-pointers in the closing five minutes of the first half to turn Penn State
Schuylkill’s early lead into a 19-18 deficit at intermission.
“Man, they made some shots,” Cresswell said. “They made some big shots, and we missed some free throws. Like I said, that’s been our problem all year — free throws.”
Penn State Schuylkill shot 8-for-17 from the charity stripe.
While Bre’ana Moore’s 14 points led Penn State Wilkes-Barre, Caitria Bowen led Penn State Schuylkill with 13 points. Teammate Tessa Dolce had nine rebounds.
Penn State Schuylkill’s men (1-9, 1-5) also featured just one double-figure scorer as Beneiko Harris surpassed his team-leading average of 15.9 points per game with 17 against Penn State Wilkes Barre.
Harris was the lone scorer for the host Lions for a huge stretch of Thursday’s game. His 3-pointer with 7:19 left in the first half gave Penn State Schuylkill a 25-15 lead. After Penn State Wilkes-Barre (6-9, 3-3) tallied the final 15 points of the half to lead 30-25, Harris opened the second half with a putback basket. By his next points, a drive with 15:12 left in the game, the visitors held a 40-29 lead.
Penn State Schuylkill did not score again until 8:35 remaining on a basket by Adam Okore, but the hosts then were trailing 53-31.
“I tried to salvage it with a couple of timeouts and drawing a couple of different sets,” Penn State Schuylkill head coach Travis Williams said. “It just came down to execution, which is something we definitely need to work on. It seems like we get into rhythm and a flow and then when a team breaks that flow, we lose our poise.”
Also breaking a five-game skid, Penn State Wilkes-Barre’s men put four players in double figures, led by 24 points from Denzel Mensah, and shot 50 percent (25-for-50) from the field.
Penn State Schuylkill shot just 27.4 percent (17-of-62) from the field and 12-for-27 from the foul line. The host Lions avoided tying their lowest offensive output of the season, 49 points, when Genaro Epifanio hit two foul shots with 40 seconds left.
Penn State Schuylkill’s teams will host PSUAC western teams this weekend. Both the men and women host Penn State Fayette in a 1 p.m. doubleheader Saturday. Penn State Schuylkill’s men then will host Penn State New Kensington at 1 p.m. Sunday.
Game Summaries
Women
PENN STATE WILKES-BARRE (45) — Williams 4 0-0 11, Rabender 2 0-2 4, Moore 5 2-3 14, McLaughlin 5 0-0 13, Eskridge 0 3-6 3, Person 0 0-1 0. Totals 16 5-12 45.
PENN STATE SCHUYLKILL (42) — Moyer 1 1-2 3, Grasso 1 0-0 2, Blasko 2 1-3 6, Bowen 5 3-4 13, Dolce 1 2-6 4, Celani 1 0-0 2, Druby 4 1-2 9, Lomax 0 0-0 0, Cook 1 0-0 3. Totals 16 8-17 42.
W-B (4-7, 1-4) 19 26 — 45 Sch (4-4, 2-4) 18 24 — 42
3-point FGs: Williams 3, Moore 2, McLaughlin 3, Blasko, Cook
Men
PENN STATE WILKES-BARRE (67) — Mensah 8 8-18 24, Jones 5 1-2 11, Jackson 2 1-2 5, Walker 1 2-2 4, Valenti 0 0-1 0, Heft 4 0-0 12, Young 5 0-0 10, Kaiser 0 1-3 1. Totals 25 13-28 67.
PENN STATE SCHUYLKILL (51) — Tinsley 1 2-2 4, Yost 3 1-1 8, Bracey 2 3-4 8, Epifanio 1 2-2 5, Harris 7 2-4 17, Bubeck 1 0-0 2, Greene 0 0-0 0, Colteste 1 0-0 3, Storm 0 0-0 0, Okore 1 2-4 4, Butler 0 0-0 0. Totals 17 12-27 51.
W-B (6-9, 3-3) 30 37 — 67 Sch (1-9, 1-5) 25 26 — 51
3-point FGs: Heft 4, Yost, Bracey, Epifanio, Harris, Colteste