Despite layoff, Lady Roaring Lions stay hot

January 8, 2011--Uniontown, Pa.

Playing their first game in nearly a month, the Penn State Fayette Lady Roaring Lions wasted little time in getting into the swing of the second half of the season, taking down Penn College 74-67 in PSUAC action Saturday afternoon. The win improves the Lady Roaring Lions to 3-0 in the PSUAC, 3-8 overall. Penn fell to 2-1 in the conference, 4-5 overall. It is the third straight win for Fayette, spanning a total of 35 days with the long layoff between the fall and spring schedules.

Fayette was led by sophomore guard Kasey Ruble, who scored 17 points and dished out a game-high eight assists. Ruble was joined by four of her teammates in double figures, with sophomore Kaitlyn Novak scoring 14 and grabbing four steals. Freshman Jill Guthrie scored 12 points and grabbed eight rebounds while sophomore Kayla Hatfield scored 10 points. Sophomore Nicole Garrety narrowly missed a double-double, scoring 11 points while pulling down a team-high nine rebounds.

Although the Lady Roaring Lions were outrebounded 55-48, they more than made up for it by forcing 27 Penn turnovers on the strength of 14 steals. Fayette's plus-11 in the turnover category helped spark the offense, as 28 points came directly from forcing turnovers, including 14 fast break points.

Penn was led by Kierstin Steer with 24 points and Hilary Rice who scored 15, while Keiosha Cooksey had a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Tasha Stover scored nine points, grabbed 10 rebounds and dished out a team-high five assists.

Fayette next travels to Carlow on Wednesday, Jan. 12, at 7:00 p.m. in their final non-conference contest of the season. They return to PSUAC action with a tilt at Penn State Mont Alto on Saturday, Jan. 15.