Scranton Lady Lions Five Game Winning Streak Gets Snapped

Scranton Lady Lions Five Game Winning Streak Gets Snapped
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January 31, 2026

By: Ross Turetsky, Penn State Scranton Athletics

In a Saturday afternoon home matinee, the Penn State Scranton Lady Lions basketball team dropped a tough five point, 43-38, battle against conference rival Penn State Schuylkill. With this defeat, Scranton's impressive five game winning streak got snapped, as they saw their overall record move to a solid 9-6 mark, they are now 5-4 on their home court, and they are 4-6 in their all-important league play schedule with just two weeks remaining in their 2025-2026 regular season campaign. Saturday's contest also saw the Lions from Scranton celebrate their worthwhile annual 3's for THON charitable festivities that helps raise money for kids and their families battling pediatric cancer. The hometown Lions also held pregame senior day and two and two celebrations before the showdown, as senior guard Inayah Muhammad, sophomore forward Anaja Jackson, sophomore guard Aspen Isreal, fellow sophomore guard Tressie Bender, stand-out sophomore guard Karma Paez, and sophomore sharp shooting forward Autumn Koch were honored for their tremendous collegiate hoops careers and accomplishments before they are set to graduate the basketball program at season's end.

After being all knotted up at six apiece at the end of the first quarter of play, the road warrior Schuylkill squad outscored their opponent by a slim 10-7 margin to give them a miniscule three point, 16-13, advantage heading into the half-time break in the action. This evenly matched closely played ball game continued into the second half, as Schuylkill outpaced Scranton 15-13 in the third stanza, and in the fourth and last frame both clubs notched 12 points apiece, as Schuylkill would stand tall and hold on to their nail-biting five point road triumph when the final buzzer sounded out.

Scranton was led on the offensive attack by the dynamic sophomore forward duo of Koch and Jackson, as both players put up stellar double digit scoring performances in the match. Koch just missed out on a commanding double-double, as she tallied a game-high 15 points and nine rebounds, shooting 4-22 from the floor, sinking in 3-18 from three point land, making 4-6 from the charity stripe, stealing the ball twice, and adding an assist for good measure while playing in all 40-minutes of the contest. Last but certainly not least, Jackson contributed a rock solid 12 points on 5-14 shooting, to go along with her seven boards, a trio of steals, and added an assist to boot in in her 40-minutes of action.

Meanwhile, Schuylkill was held to only one lone player scoring in double figures on the day, as junior guard Ava Novak came off the bench and provided a nice spark for her ball club in just 23-minutes of court time, as she scored a team-high 10 points on 5-16 shooting, while hauling in nine rebounds, and an assist.

Now head coach Mike Riddle and his 9-6 Penn State Scranton Lady Lions basketball team will look to bounce right back from this tough defeat to Schuylkill and start up a new winning streak when they next host league rival Penn State York this upcoming Tuesday night, with a scheduled 6pm tip-off start time. Scranton will be looking to avenge an earlier season loss to York after dropping a 64-50 road battle to them from back on November 18th. Meanwhile, veteran head coach Charles Killian and his 5-13 Penn State Schuylkill hoops squad, who are 3-8 in crucial league play, snapped their five game losing skid with this big road victory over Scranton and will look to build on this win when they next travel on the road to square off against non-conference foe Wilson College this Monday evening at 7pm on Ground Hog's Day.