Beaver, Schuylkill Women Square Off While Mont Alto and DuBois Battle for PSUAC Basketball Crowns

FAN GUIDE

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The 2025 PSUAC Men's and Women's Basketball Championships have arrived, with four teams still alive to take home the two titles. Both championship contests will take place on Sunday, March 2nd at the Bryce Jordan Center on the University Park campus in central Pennsylvania. The men's championship will begin at 1:00 p.m., with the women's game slated for a 3:45 p.m. start.

Penn State Beaver women's basketball is the only team with a chance to repeat their title from 2024, with all other contestants having failed to advance to the title tilts last season. However, Beaver will be up against a recent perennial power in Penn State Schuylkill, who won the championship just two years ago.

Penn State Mont Alto looks to regain its status as a conference elite in men's basketball, searching for its first title since 2020. They'll meet Penn State DuBois, who has not won a PSUAC Men's Basketball championship since 2012.

Enjoy our preview below, along with our fan guide at the top of the article.

MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

West #1 Penn State DuBois (15-13, 10-7 PSUAC) vs. East #1 Penn State Mont Alto (23-4, 17-1 PSUAC), 1:00 p.m.

Two very familiar foes will kick off our championship day. Mont Alto dominated its first season back in the East Division, after earning the top seed in the West just a year prior. But 2024 didn't end the way Mont Alto wanted it to. And the team that ended their run at a PSUAC title last season is the one that now stands in their way in the Bryce Jordan Center. DuBois knocked off Mont Alto in the quarterfinals last season, the only no. 4 seed to advance in several years, before being knocked off in the semifinals by eventual champion Penn State York. 

Not to mention, DuBois head coach Dan Smay played and coached at Mont Alto for Jack Schenzel before heading north. While that storyline will be front and center for the coaches, the on-court action will exceed it. 

DuBois enters the title game as one of the hottest teams in the league, winning 11 of its last 13 games, including an 80-72 quartefinal win over Penn State Beaver and an 84-70 victory over Penn State Greater Allegheny in the semifinals. DuBois leads the PSUAC in points per game at 87.4 and has put up the most shot attempts per game in the PSUAC while still shooting nearly 44 percent. Heavy on three-point attempts, DuBois pushes tempo and is led by a quartet of players in double figures. Beau Verdill leads the charge at 16.8 points per game, with Kaleb Pryor not far behind at 16.5. Together, they combine for nearly 11 three-point attempts per game and more than four makes. Niare Poplar and Kyron Harbin each average more than 13 points per game as well, pushing a balanced attack for the West champs. Verdill leads the defensive charge after having been named the PSUAC West Division Defensive Player of the Year.

Mont Alto, on the other hand, has the league's top defense, allowing just 64.1 points per game while averaging nine steals and forcing nearly 16 turnovers each night out. As different as their pace of play may be compared to DuBois, Mont Alto does not lack for scoring either. Veron Talla leads four players who average more than 10 points, with 17 a night for the second year forward. Caleb Eckert is next at 12.5 points per game, while Jonathan Pang came on strong in his second season to average 12.3. points. Bryson Fleming rounds out the group at 10.1 points per game, while also excelling on defense. Talla also averages nearly 11 rebounds per game while Fleming was named the PSUAC's East Division Defensive Player of the Year.

These teams met just once in the regular season, all the way back on December 6th, 2024. Mont Alto cruised to a 91-68 win at home, but since that loss DuBois has gone 12-4 against PSUAC opponents. 

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

West #2 Penn State Beaver (18-9, 13-4 PSUAC) vs. East #1 Penn State Schuylkill (21-4, 17-1 PSUAC), 3:45 p.m.

In a match-up of the last two PSUAC Women's Basketball champions, someone will stake their claim to recent conference dominance. Schuylkill qquickly regained its form of their 2022-2023 championship season after an injury-marred 2023-2024 campaign saw their repeat hopes derailed. Beaver happily stepped in to claim the 2024 title, its third since 2020. Since 2008, Beaver has been a perennial power, winning 10 championships.

PSUAC East Division Player of the Year Tajae Stevenson will lead Schuylkill's push for the Lion Statue trophy after averaging nearly 19 points and 10 rebounds per game this season. Teammates Allison Crockett and Ava Novak are threats from deep, averaging three three-pointers per game between the two. They average 7.6 and 12.6 points per game, respectively, while veterans Nadia King and Serena Jones add more than nine points a game each.

Beaver lacks a standout Player of the Year like Stevenson, but they make up for it with depth. Three Beaver players were named Second Team All-Conference, with Katie Enderle leading the pack as the West Division's Defensive Player of the Year. Why do they lack a "star"? Perhaps because they share the ball as well, if not better, than everybody else. Three Beaver players average more than 10 points per game, with Claudia Siegfried leading the group at 12. Emery Black adds 11.8 points and Enderle 11.2 per game. But what's more impressive is that two additional Beaver players average 9.9 points per game, with Taylor Woodruff sharing point guard duties with Black and Bailey Rieg being a significant contributor off the bench. 

Schuylkill will look to slow the game compared to Beaver's pace, which sees the West champs average more than 77 points per game, best in the PSUAC. Schuylkill relies on a strong defense, second in scoring in the PSUAC at 54.2 points allowed per game. Schuylkill will need to be efficient with the basketball, as Beaver forces teams into nearly 27 turnovers per game. Schuylkill, meanwhile, enjoys an advantage on the glass, at more than 38 rebounds per game to Beaver's 34.8. 

In their only league meeting, Schuylkill won a nailbiter at home, as a late Stevenson free throw sealed a 66-64 win.

HOW TO ENJOY THE GAMES

If you are unable to attend the games in person, you can watch the games live on the PSU Campus Athletics Network at www.psucampusathletics.com. You can access the Network from a web browser, or download the PSU Campus Athletics Network app on your smart device, including phones, tablets and televisions. Search for the "PSU Campus Athletics Network" on your iOS or Android device, as well as on your smart TV or streaming device. It is available on most, but not all, streaming services.

In addition, Penn State's student radio station will be broadcasting the games on a delay starting at 6:00 p.m. on The Lion 90.7FM. You can listen online here.

WHAT'S NEXT

The PSUAC Men's and Women's Basketball champions each earn the PSUAC's automatic bid into the United States Collegiate Athletic Association's Division II Basketball National Championship tournaments, slated to begin in Buffalo, NY on March 9th, 2025. Depending on USCAA Coaches Poll rankings, the losing teams may still receive an at-large bid to its respective tournament.