SCHUYLKILL HAVEN - Even as the Penn State Schuylkill women's basketball team faced an overwhelming, athletic opponent on Friday on its home court, the squad received some good news as it enters its first slate of two games in two days this season.
Guard Dominique Grasso returned to action for the Lady Lions in their 89-35 loss to Penn State Beaver.
Head coach Mike Donley's team also gained an eighth player on its roster in Beth Richards, who saw her first action as Penn State Schuylkill fell to 0-3, 0-2 in the Penn State University Athletic Conference.
"She's somebody who can handle the ball for us and direct us out on the court," Donley said about Grasso, a freshman and a North Schuylkill graduate. "She's a stabilizing force. When she's right, she does have a decent shot, and that helps because, obviously, we lack scoring. We just don't have the scorers that some of these other teams do."
Grasso posted seven points, three rebounds and two assists for the Lady Lions, whose loss preceded Penn State Beaver's 92-62 triumph over the Lion men (0-3, 0-2) on the same court.
In both games, superior balance by Penn State Beaver produced large leads that both squads expanded in the second half.
However, both games were competitive early.
In the women's game, Penn State Schuylkill trailed 15-12 with 12:11 left in the first half. Molly Carduff, who finished with 15 points and nine rebounds, kept the host in the game with six points.
However, Penn State Beaver then tallied the next eight points, including four by Asia Borders, to take control.
"The first four minutes, we were fine," Donley said. "We were getting good shots. Our defense was pretty good. We couldn't hit a foul shot, which hurt us.
"So, if you can make some of those shots, you feel good about yourself. At least we're getting better.
"But then, when those shots don't go in and they start to score because they're a stronger team, it just snowballs."
Holding a 25-15 edge in rebounds, Penn State Beaver took a 44-24 halftime lead before limiting a tiring Penn State Schuylkill team to 11 second-half points.
Kelsey Brooks led Penn State Beaver (3-4, 2-0) with 16 points. She was joined by 14 by Cassandra Flowers, 13 by Borders and 10 each from Morgan Kurtz and Kayona Ward.
In the men's game, Penn State Schuylkill held a 4-3 lead on Nate Yost's two foul shots with 2:42 gone in the game.
Penn State Beaver (5-1, 2-0) then responded with 16 of the next 20 points and pulled away behind a 39-27 rebounding advantage in the game.
Chris Weathers led the winners with 22 points, while Rob Agurs had 18, Nick Miller posted 14 and Tiere Phillips tallied 11.
Thomas Tinsley paced Penn State Schuylkill, held to 34.5 percent shooting from the field, with 13 points. Kenford Lynch added nine.
Both Penn State Schuylkill squads go to Williamsport today to oppose Penn College in a doubleheader that begins at 1 p.m.
No. 12 Connecticut 95 Maine 68
HARTFORD, Conn. - Ryan Boatright scored 17 points to lead a balanced UConn attack as the 12th-ranked Huskies routed Maine to stay undefeated.
DeAndre Daniels and Omar Calhoun both added 16 points for the Huskies (9-0), who have won 54 consecutive home games against non-conference opponents. Niels Giffey added 12 points.
Shabazz Napier scored seven points and had eight assists, becoming the fourth player in school history with at least 1,000 points and 500 assists.
Xavier Pollard had 20 points for Maine (1-7), which has lost six straight.
UConn shot 53 percent from the field including 56 percent from 3-point range.
The Huskies are off to their best start since going 10-0 to open 2010-11.
Pittsburgh 85 Loyola Marymount 68
PITTSBURGH - Cameron Wright scored 14 points to lead five Pittsburgh players in double figures in a victory over Loyola Marymount at the Petersen Events Center.
Pitt (9-0) opened the second half on a 12-4 run that gave the Panthers a 52-33 lead. Loyola Marymount cut the deficit to 14 with over eight minutes to play, but Lamar Patterson pushed the lead back to 18 with two layups after a timeout.
The Panthers extended their lead to as much as 22 in the final minutes.
Loyola Marymount (6-3) hung tight with Pitt through the game's first eight-plus minutes, and trailed only 19-17 at the under-12 media timeout. But Pitt closed the half on a 21-12 run to gain separation.
The Lions had three of their own hit double-digit scoring, paced by Anthony Ireland's game-high 20 points.