WBB Drops USCAA 1st Round in National Bracket

The Penn State Fayette women's basketball team dropped a 54-48 overtime heartbreaker to the University of Maine-Augusta Monday in a United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA) Division II national championship play-in first round game. 

"We had a bad shooting second quarter," said head coach Scott Hillen.  "We held their All-American (Madeline Suhr) to six points and she fouled out, but when Ally (Boykin) fouled out to start the overtime, it really hurt us." 

For most of the season, Fayette (15-10) seemed to fall behind in a lot of its games only to make a second half comeback.  Monday night, the opposite happened.  Maine-Augusta (MA) led 12-10 after the first quarter and 18-16 at the half, but the Nittany Lions outscored MA (18-8) 15-5 in the third quarter to take a 31-23 lead into the fourth.   

A layup by Kaeti Butterfield tied the game for MA with 5:11 to play and when she converted an old-fashioned three-point play with 4:28 left, MA took a 38-35 lead.  Jtaya Pirl (Connellsville, PA/Connellsville HS) recorded her own three-point play with 3:30 to play that tied the game and Boykin (Canton, OH/Canton McKinley HS) gave Fayette a 39-38 lead with 3:15 to go after making the second of two free throw attempts.  Sydney Farrar hit a three-pointer on MA's ensuing possession to make the score 41-39 with 2:53 to play, but a Taylor McCormick (Laurel, MD/Eleanor Roosevelt HS) layup tied the score with 2:13 to go.  Butterfield made one of two free throw attempts with 1:18 remaining to give MA a 42-41 advantage, and Hope Butler did the same with 0:50 to play to extend Fayette's deficit to 43-41.  McCormick missed a layup with 0:39 left and MA hgained possession of the ball.  However, McCormick stole the ball from Farrar and tied the game on a layup with 0:12 to play.  Butler missed a shot at the buzzer and the game went into overtime.   

Fayette had two opportunities to score first in overtime, but it could not.  MA took the lead for good with 4:05 left in the extra session when Butterfield hit a shot and Fayette played from behind the rest of the way.   

Neither team shot well from the floor as Fayette made 15 of 65 shots (23.1 percent) while MA made 19 of 65 shots (29.2 percent).  Fayette finished with 23 points off 32 MA turnovers while MA scored 17 points off 28 Fayette miscues.  M held a 54-48 advantage on the boards and outscored Fayette off the bench, 22-6, with Butterfield scoring 15 points off the bench to tie Butler for team honors. 

Despite an ankle injury, McCormick led Fayette with 22 points on six-of-22 shooting while Morgan Rigsby (West Portsmith, OH/West Portsmith HS) had a game-high 14 rebounds.  Butterfield came off the bench to lead MA with 15 points.   

The Nittany Lions return to the court Tuesday when they play Five Towns College in a consolation game.  Tipoff is set for 6 p.m.

For more information on the women's basketball team, go to https://www.psfathletics.com/sports/wbkb/index or follow us on Instagram @fayetteathletics. 

For more information on the USCAA, go to https://www.theuscaa.com/landing/index and for more information on the USCAA national championships, go to https://basketball.theuscaa.com/landing/index.