PITTSBURGH - The Penn State New Kensington women's basketball team collected their first win of the season on the road on Monday night as they conquered Community College of Allegheny County.

It turns out that 71 is the magic number for the women of Penn State New Kensington's basketball program. In their first win of the season, the women displayed magnificent force in defeating Community College of Allegheny County 71-31.

Just a few days prior, they showed signs of victory in a very close loss to conference opponent Penn State DuBois. And days before that, they earned 71 points in yet another close loss to Greater Allegheny. Moving forward, the "Aim for 71" campaign should advance as they target more wins in the very near future. "One of my teammates had a dream about it the other night," said Izzabelle Estrabela (Natrona Heights, Pa. / Highlands) "That we were going to score 71 points and win the game. I guess 71 is the lucky number."

Game leaders include the extraordinary Deshaya Chavis (Penn Hills, Pa. / Penn Hills) who commanded the scoring with 27 points. Ryliegh Beck (Saegertown, Pa. / Maplewood) resumed her great season of shooting with 16. Both Izzabelle Estrabela and Shaylynne Boitnott (Meadville, Pa. / Meadville) put up 12 as all of the pieces finally fell into place.

The defense held CCAC to only 31 points picking up yet another game of 43 rebounds, 16 assists, and a remarkable 100 % of three-pointers. The women constructed 53.6% of shots from the field. "It was just mixed emotions," said Estrabela "The other team was getting a little bit rough to us but it felt great that we were ahead by a lot."

The whole of the women's team agrees that yesterday's game was different, yet the play was the same. As they entered the high scoring territory, it was clear that this was a place they had been before and it no longer intimidated them, as it may have in the past. "We tried to get everyone involved more," said Ryliegh Beck "We felt a little bit more relaxed. We didn't have to rush. We didn't have to panic. When we are losing we kind of get in panic mode and we play at a faster pace instead of just slowing it down, but it felt like when we looked at the scoreboard and realized we were up, we were able to slow down a lot."

Additionally, Deshaya Chavis earned the PSUAC Player of the Week after putting up 50 points in two games. Her regularity on the court brought the team into those high-scoring numbers all season, as well as helped the team to their first win."Definitely excited," said Chavis. "I said that we would get a win eventually so hopefully we can get at least three more this week."

The women increased their in-game substitutions as well during Monday's game. "We definitely had people subbing in and out and being able to just take a breather rather than just playing the whole game and mind all over the place . . . I think that helped us." Chavis added.

The women have a quick turnaround this week as they hit the road again on Wednesday, January 26, to play Penn State Beaver at 6:00 p.m. 

Written by Matt Heavner, PSNK Athletics Communications Intern