(Box Score) 

            PLYMOUTH, N.H. - Junior Amanda Kania (Manchester, N.H./West) scored a game-high 22 points Thursday evening to lead Plymouth State University to a 90-46 victory over Lyndon State College in a non-conference women's basketball game at Foley Gymnasium.

            The Panthers won their eighth game without a loss this season and is enjoying the best start to a season in school history.  The previous standard was seven wins to start the 2001-02 campaign.  The Hornets, who are also off to a strong beginning to their season, fall to 5-2.

            Kania led a balanced scoring attack for the Panthers, with 10 different players getting into the scoring column.  Sophomore Alicia Doucet (Manchester, N.H./Central) contributed 10 points and seven rebounds, sophomore Kristen Cournoyer (Enfield, Conn.) added a career-best nine points, and seniors Katie Sunderland (Londonderry, N.H.) and Gretchen Fritch (South Boston, Mass.) chipped in with eight points apiece.  Sunderland also collected a game-high 10 rebounds.

            Freshman Kasey Steinmetz (Lebanon, N.H.) paced a balanced Hornets' offense with 10 points, while junior Stephanie Barclay (Woodbury, Vt.) and freshman Abby Fadden (North Haverhill, N.H.) finished with nine points each.

            Plymouth State shot nearly 47 percent from the field as a team, including 38 percent from three-point range, while holding the visitors to a 29 percent shooting clip.  The Panthers also had a decisive 52-31 advantage on the boards.

            The Panthers jumped out to an 11-0 lead, keeping Lyndon State off the board for the first five minutes of the game.  The Hornets fell behind by 14 points midway through the half, but rallied with a 15-4 run to pull to within three points, 26-23, with seven minutes to go.  It was still a three-point game with five minutes remaining, but PSU outscored LSC 15-6 the rest of the half to take a 45-33 advantage into the locker room.  Kania finished with 18 of her 22 points in the opening half.

            PSU scored the first 10 points of the second half to open up a 22-point bulge, and it was all Panthers the rest of the way.

            The final games of the semester are set for this Saturday, with Plymouth State hosting Eastern Connecticut State University in a key Little East Conference match-up at Foley Gymnasium (1:00 p.m.) and Lyndon State returning home to host New England College in a non-conference clash at Stannard Gymnasium (7:00 p.m.) 

-- 30 --