MONACA, Pa. - The Thiel College women's basketball team hit the road on Thursday for a non-conference game at Penn State Beaver. The Tomcats outshot the Nittany Lions from the field and the three-point line but were undone by the Nittany Lions rebounding prowess, as the home team picked up a 88-73 win over the Tomcats.
 
The Tomcats (1-3) opened the game by scoring the contest's first five points on a jump shot by senior Bethany Hines (Youngstown, Ohio/Youngstown Early College) and a three-pointer by sophomore Kayla Welty (Portville, N.Y./Portville ). Thiel's lead grew to ten points (12-2) after sophomore Hannah Stoneman (Sugarcreek, Ohio/Hiland) banked in two points early in the first half. Thiel continued to apply pressure, as their lead grew to 19 (31-12) with 8:22 left in the first half.
 
Unfortunately for the visitors, the Nittany Lions of Penn State Beaver made a run of their own to close out the half, outscoring the Tomcats 22-7 to cut the Thiel lead down to four (38-34) when the two opponents broke for their respective locker rooms.
 
The Nittany Lions slowly began pulling away from the Tomcats over the opening minutes of period number two, taking their first lead of the contest with a pair of made free-throws by Mason Depetro with 13:27 left in regulation. The Tomcats fired back, as Stoneman and junior Cimone Reid (Toledo, Ohio/Ottawa Hills) made consecutive jumpers to give Thiel a 50-47 advantage with 12 minutes to play. Unfortunately, a three-point play by Asia Borders marked the beginning of a 9-0 run for the Nittany Lions that effectively put the game out of reach.
 
Stoneman paced the Thiel offense by scoring a team-high 17 points over 32 minutes of play. She also yanked down a game-high 12 rebounds for her second-straight double-double. Both freshman Erin DiFalco (Murrysville, Pa./Franklin Regional) and sophomore Kayla Welty (Portville, N.Y./Portville ) chipped in 12 points each, while Hines added 10 points and five rebounds.
 
The Tomcats shot 42% from the field (25-of-60) and 48% from behind the arc (10-of-21), while the Nittany Lions shot 39% (31-of-80) and just 7% (1-of-14) from three-point range. The Nittany Lions held a significant advantage on the glass though, outrebounding Thiel 47-30.