SELINSGROVE, PA (November 18, 2023) – The Susquehanna women's basketball team opened the Susquehanna Tip-Off Tournament on Saturday evening with a bout against Penn College, fighting for a place in Sunday afternoon's championship game. The River Hawks protected their home court well, putting on a defensive clinic enroute to a 54-35 victory over the Wildcats.

After a slow starting shooting had the score just 9-8 in SU's favor at the end of the first quarter, they would turn on the jets offensively in the second frame, scoring 14 points with the help of a pair of three-point makes and some strong interior offense from Carly George and Julia Roth.

Leading 23-14 coming out of the halftime break, that domination on the interior only increased, as the River Hawks scored a game-high 19 points in the third quarter, going eight of 14 from the floor and three of four from the foul line. Meanwhile, the visiting Wildcats were in disarray, scoring just 16 points combined in the second and third quarters while losing a significant number of opportunities due to turnovers. They would give the ball away 26 times on the night, compared to only 15 for SU, resulting in Susquehanna finishing with 66 field-goal attempts compared to only 39 for Penn College. That would also translate into 28 points off of turnovers for the River Hawks, who did extremely well in picking out passes in transition, compiling 15 assists on their 22 total made baskets.

Roth was a standout on the night, racking up a game-high 12 points on an efficient five of eight shooting performance while also tying with George for the team lead in rebounds with eight. She would also finished tied with Julia Pinckert for the team-lead in assists with four. Finally, she would spearhead the defensive effort for the River Hawks with a career-high six steals. Kaitlyn Lynch finished in double-digit scoring for the second-straight game, tallying 11 points. Pinckert had 10, including two made threes. George also produced a breakout performance, scoring a career-high eight points to go with her eight boards.

SU will now await the winner of the tournament's other opening-round contest between #14 DeSales University and Saint Elizabeth University. They'll face them at 3 pm tomorrow afternoon with hopes of claiming the tournament championship title.

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--RIVER HAWKS--