By: Jake Gibbons, Lion’s Eye Staff Writer, jmg6173@psu.edu

The women’s basketball team, it seemed, were all but unstoppable this season, suffering a mere eight losses overall out of 26 total games. However, their impressive performance this season was halted abruptly in the PSUAC semifinals this past weekend.
The season had been going extremely well for the team before this past Sunday, with the team holding both an 18-7 win/loss record and the title of regular season champions after a victory over Penn State Schuylkill. With, that, the team garnered for themselves a healthy rest period and the home court advantage, at least until the PSUAC championship.
Come this past Sunday, however, Penn State Hazleton was able to eke out a victory in the final few minutes of the PSUAC semifinals.
As the opening neared, suspense began to build in the air around the court in what was maybe the largest crowd at a home game this season began to roll in. With the anticipation finally at a boiling point, the semifinal round began. The game’s first half saw the most intense performance we’ve yet seen this season from both sides, neither of which being able to gain a lead of more than a few points or so for the first 20 minutes of play. A strong showing from the offense coupled with two free throws and multiple back to back goals gave Brandywine a 16 point lead over Hazleton by the end of the first half.
As the game wore into the second half, Brandywine was pushing hard, and at one point had nearly 20 points over their opponents. The momentum was strong, but it eventually began to dwindle as the second half wore on, Hazleton slowly beginning to rally and chip away at our lead. Hazelton was trailing by 17 points in the final fifteen minutes of the game, but by the three minute mark they’d closed the gap considerably, eventually gaining their first lead since the first fifteen minutes of the game, now with just a minute left in play. After two pairs of free throws from Hazleton and a few missed attempts by Brandywine, the final score stood at 65-59. With that, Hazleton moved on to the championship game, leaving Brandywine to close the season out with a respectable record.
This season may not have ended well, and come next year we will lose our pair of extremely talented seniors, but, if anything, this season did prove what the team is capable of. Next season is a mystery to us now, but if this one showed us anything, we may just be able to go all the way.