WASHINGTON – It was a clash of the top United East – Volt Division women's basketball teams here Tuesday evening in the Field House on the Gallaudet University campus. The Bison welcomed Penn State Harrisburg to Padden Court in a showdown of the first and second-place teams in the conference.
The Bison envied the chance for revenge against the Nittany Lions, the lone team to defeat GU in conference play this season. Unfortunately, Gallaudet was on the losing end of a 59-50 game against Penn State Harrisburg before a crowd of 241.
Gallaudet (13-8, 6-2 United East) had to chase the Nittany Lions the entire game as the Bison only led for 40 seconds early in the first quarter.
Penn St.-Harrisburg (11-11, 8-1 United East) was knotted at 14 with the Bison after the first 10 minutes of play and took a 28-24 lead into halftime.
GU senior forward
Cassidy Perry (Frederick, Md.) was a menace on the glass as she grabbed 11 of her 16 rebounds in the first half. Perry made GU history in the third quarter with her 14th board to give her 1,000 career rebounds in four seasons. Perry becomes only the second player in program history to score 1,500 points and tally 1,000 rebounds as she joins GU Athletics Hall of Famer
Ronda Jo Miller.
Penn State Harrisburg allowed Perry to do work on the glass but kept her out of the scoring column for most of the game. Perry didn't score her first basket until 28 seconds into the fourth quarter as she was held to a career low four points while she made five blocks and four assists. Perry snapped her own 44-game streak where she had scored 10 or more points in a game. Perry has only been held to single digits for points in five of her 91 career games.
Senior guard
Rajena Guettler (Frederick, Md.) and first year
Cam Lexow (Abington, Pa.) led the Bison with 17 points and five rebounds in the loss. Junior guard
Crystal Salit (Boyds, Md.) added eight points off the bench.
The Nittany Lions had three players in double figures led by Giahny Correa's 15 points off the bench. Ciani Redd-Howard tallied a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds while Bailey Oehmig chipped in 10 points in the win.
Gallaudet (6-2) now sits behind Penn State Harrisburg (8-1) in the Volt Division standings with four conference games left. The Bison will need to try and sweep the last four games and hope for some help to get past Harrisburg in the standings.
UP NEXT
GU remains home this Saturday, Feb. 3, as the Bison welcome Penn St.-Abington (9-12, 5-3 United East) to the Field House for a 3 p.m. conference game. It will be a special day for the Bison as the women's basketball program celebrates the 25th anniversary of the 1998-99 Sweet 16 team that went 24-6 and advanced to the NCAA third round.
