Hackettstown, NJ – The Centenary College (1-0) women's basketball team opened their season with a 70-30 victory over Penn State – Wilkes Barre (0-2) as host of the Lady Cyclone Tip-Off Tournament.  Mallory George and Rachel Edwards led the Cyclone offense to move onto the championship game Sunday afternoon.

The game began at a back and forth pace with five ties heading into the 10 minute mark (9-9).  Centenary's early foul trouble put Penn State in the bonus and sent them to line relinquishing the lead to the Lions (9-10).

The Cyclones would then go on a 22-6 run and took a 31-16 advantage into the break. 

Centenary's Rachel Edwards (Phillipsburg, NJ / Phillipsburg) provided the spark off the bench as she scored 11 straight points including back-to-back three pointers to expand the lead (25-11).  Mallory George (Berkeley Heights, NJ / Governor Livingston) chipped in seven first half points on 3-5 shooting while hauling in eight rebounds. 

In the second half, the Cyclones picked up right where they left off as they continued to expand the lead to as much as 25 with 14:06 left.  Centenary never let up as the bench tacked on 24 points to break open the lead to 40. 

The Cyclones held the Lions to 17.5% shooting from the field (10-of-57), 15.4% from three-point land (2-of-13) and controlled the glass as they brought down 55 rebounds over Penn State's 37.  

George scored a game-high 15 points shooting 7-of-11 from the field and grabbing 10 rebounds for her first double-double of the season.  Edwards followed suit finishing with 13 points (5-of-8) to go along with six rebounds.

Freshmen Nicole Cartaino (Midland Park, NJ / Midland Park) and Julia Presant (Cherry Hill, NJ / Cherry Hill East) both tallied eight points, while Taylor Pryslak (Belvidere, NJ / Belvidere) added six off the bench to help close out the game for the Cyclones.   Kelsey Barofski (White Township, NJ / Belvidere) also chipped in six points and two rebounds. 

In game one of the Lady Cyclone Tournament, New Jersey City University defeated Bryn Athyn College 67-49 to move on to the Championship game, while Bryn Athyn will face Penn State Wilkes-Barre Sunday afternoon at 1:00PM.

With the win, Centenary will compete for the tournament title against New Jersey City University tomorrow afternoon with a game time start of 3:00PM.

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