Three-point shooting was the difference in the Lady Lions’ Friday matinee as Penn State fell to Liberty by a score of 80-68. Penn State shot only 2/15 from beyond the arc, while Liberty scorched the nets to the tune of a 10/22 performance from distance.

Sophomore Lindsey Spann led the Lady Lions in scoring with 17 points, which tied her career high and was her fifth consecutive game in double figures to start the season. Spann’s 17 points, however, came on 21 shots as she was just 7/21 from the field, including an ugly 0/7 performance on three-pointers. She also led all players with 7 turnovers on the day. Sierra Moore added 14 points on 10 shots and Georgia natives Kaliyah Mitchell and Tori Waldner both chipped in with 10 points in their returns to their home state. Waldner also added 8 rebounds and 3 assists, and Candice Agee contributed 6 points, 5 rebounds, and 4 blocks in 22 minutes.

For Liberty, Simone Brown led all scorers with 23 points on just 11 shots thanks to her 5/8 performance on triples, and Ashley Rininger and Karly Buer both added 13 points. Katelyn Adams was the only player on either team to grab double-digit rebounds, as she led all players with 11 in the game.

The Lady Lions were up by seven points at halftime, and Spann gave them a nine-point lead to open the second half scoring. From there, however, things quickly got ugly as Liberty went on a 24-4 run to go up by 14 points with a little over 12 minutes remaining and would not relinquish its lead the rest of the way. Liberty scorched the nets in the second half to the tune of 57.7% from the field and a whopping 85.7% (6/7) from beyond the arc. By comparison, Penn State shot just 35.3% from the field and just 10% (1/10) from distance in the second half.

Penn State fell to 1-4 on the season with the loss, while Liberty climbed above .500 to 3-2 with the win. The Lady Lions will play the loser of the Georgia State/Samford game at 12:30pm on Sunday in the consolation game of the Georgia State Thanksgiving Tournament.