Morrisville State women fall short in 65-62 final to Harrisburg

The Morrisville State College women's basketball team made a second half comeback attempt, but fell short Sunday afternoon as visiting Penn State Harrisburg edged the Mustangs for the 65-62 North Eastern Athletic Conference (NEAC) victory.



Morrisville State drops to 7-13 overall, 6-7 in NEAC play, while Harrisburg improves to 14-6, 12-1 in conference play.



Sophomore forward Nijah Townsend (Bronx, N.Y.) tallied 26 points and gathered 10 rebounds to lead all scorers on the day, while two additional Mustangs posted double figures, including Jennel Paul (Brooklyn, N.Y.) with 17 and Nijee Scott (Bronx, N.Y.) with 10. Scott added seven assists and seven rebounds to the Morrisville State efforts.



Stephanie Yetter paced Harrisburg with 14 points, adding eight rebounds, as teammate Dorthea Dixon added 12 points, four assists and three steals. Monet Cunningham netted 11 points for the Nittany Lions, dishing out four assists while Brittany Guerre rounded out top team scorers with 10 points, five assists.



Morrisville State battled back from a seven point deficit in the first half to claim the 31-30 lead at the break, and got off to a slow start in the second as Harrisburg raced out to a 13 point advantage with less than nine minutes to go in the contest.



Scott cut the Harrisburg lead to three on a lay-up with 5:01 to go, but the Nittany Lions responded with a three to reclaim the six point advantage.



Tierra Hollins-Hill (Bronx, N.Y.) nailed a three to again bring the Mustangs to within three, and Scott added two quick scores to make it a one point game with 3:20 remaining on the clock.



With 10 seconds remaining on the clock, Harrisburg forced a costly Morrisville State turnover, in which Dixon converted both free throws for the three point lead with eight to go.



A three-point attempt by Scott at the buzzer hit off the back of the rim as Harrisburg held on for the conference win.



Morrisville State returns to the floor Tuesday, traveling to Wells College for a 7 p.m. tip.