Buffalo, NY - The D'Youville Women's Basketball Team lost their fourth straight game Thursday evening after falling 65-49 to the visiting Penn State-Behrend Lions. 

To begin the game, the Lions outscored the Spartans 12-2 in the first 4 and a half minutes. Just 2 minutes later, D'Youville rallied back after an Awilda Murphy (Kenmore, NY/Sacred Heart Academy) made layup to get the game within 2. Every point in which the Spartans attempted to get back into the game was answered by the visiting Lions. For the final 6:20 of the first half, D'Youville would not come within 7 points of Penn State-Behrend, trailing 39-30 at the half.

The Lions continued to hold their lead. With 6 minutes gone by in the second half, D'Youville closed the gap to 7 points, trailing 45-38 thanks to two Dannette Laguerre (Buffalo, NY/Hutch Tech) made free throws. Pulling away once again, Penn State-Behrend opened up a 10 point lead with 9 minutes remaining in the game. 

After a Bridget Andrews (Amherst, NY/Sacred Heart Academy) made layup and Awilda Murphy made three-pointer, the lead was cut to 5. The 5 point deficit would be the closest the Spartans would get to the Lion lead, falling by the final score of 65-49.

A pair of Sacred Heart graduates led D'Youville in scoring. Bridget Andrews led the team with 15 points, while Awilda Murphy was second on the team with 11 points. Amanda Marcely (Syracuse, NY/Bishop Grimes) led the team in rebounding with 8, as well as scoring 4 points off the bench. Jillian Piniewski (West Seneca, NY/West Seneca) added 4 points and 6 rebounds off the bench.

Jean-Ann Korona (Washingtonville, NY/Washingtonville) scored 8 points, also recording 2 rebounds, assists and steals. Alexis Smith (Hamburg, NY/Hamburg) scored 4 points with 4 rebounds. Morgan McDermott (Hamburg, NY/Nichols) earned her first start of the season.

Two key statistics that hurt the Spartans were rebounding and assists. D'Youville was out rebounded 46-29 and the Lions had double the assists of their opponent. Penn State-Behrend's 20 offensive rebounds were 2 less than D'Youville's defensive rebounds.

The women will head on the road for their next game, traveling to Pitt.-Greensburg for their game Saturday, January 24th at 1:00pm.