Buffalo, NY - The D'Youville Women's Basketball Team lost Saturday afternoon to the visiting Penn State-Altoona Lions by the score of 57-55 in a game that went down to the wire.

Both offenses stalled coming out of the gate, with neither team scoring more than 2 points in the first 5 minutes of the game. After scoring the first basket of the game, Alexis Smith (Hamburg, NY/Hamburg) followed up with the second basket for her team, giving life to the D'Youville offense. Smith's basket began a 8-2 run for the Spartans. Penn State-Altoona's offense woke up soon after the Spartans, getting back into the game and tying it at 17 with under 4 minutes to play in the first half. The Lions offense continued to roll as they outscored D'Youville 11-6 for the remainder of the half and took a 28-23 lead into halftime.

Penn State-Altoona came out in the second half and had a strangle hold on the game. Through the first 8 minutes of the half, the Lions always had at least a 7 point lead, with their largest lead coming with 12:13 left in the game by the score of 42-27.

Although appearing to be out of it, the Spartans had no quit as their team began chipping away at the Lion lead. Points came from 6 different D'Youville players, including 4 points each from Smith, Jean-Ann Korona (Washingtonville, NY/Washingtonville) and Amanda Marcely (Syracuse, NY/Bishop Grimes) in the Spartans comeback. On an Awilda Murphy (Kenmore, NY/Sacred Heart Academy) made layup, D'Youville cut the lead to 2.

The Lions pulled away to bring their lead to 51-46, but the three D'Youville captains came in clutch when they were needed. Bridget Andrews (Amherst, NY/Sacred Heart Academy) hit a three-pointer and then a layup to tie the game at 51. Penn State-Altoona scored to go up 2, but Alexis Smith tied the game up at 53 on the next possession. The game then became 55-53, but senior Casey Bartels (Massapequa, NY/Massapequa) scored her first basket of the game to tie the game at 55. 

On the next possession, the Lions would take a 57-55 with :13 left. The game would end with that score as the final.

Bridget Andrews led D'Youville in scoring with 12 points. The senior also added 6 assists and 2 steals. Fellow captain Alexis Smith tied for the team lead with 10 points while pulling in 6 rebounds. Amanda Marcely led the team in rebounding with 9 and also scored 6 points.

Freshman Awilda Murphy had an impressive game for the Spartans. Tied for the team lead in points with 10, Awilda also tied for the team lead in steals with 3. Murphy was tied for the third on the team with 6 rebounds and was second on the team with 5 assists.

Off the bench, Jillian Piniewski (West Seneca, NY/West Seneca) had 7 rebounds to go with her 3 points. Jean-Ann Korona added 7 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 block and 1 steal. Dannette Laguerre (Buffalo, NY/Hutch Tech) and Alyssa Donnelly (Alden, NY/Nardin Academy) each scored 2 points off the bench.

The women will get their next chance at a conference victory on Thursday, January 22nd against Penn State-Behrend. The game begins at 6pm in the College Center Gym and is the last home game before the women head on the road for their next 3 games.