Penn College women’s basketball opened its season with a 65-56 non-conference victory at Alfred State on Friday night. The Wildcats begin their 2025-26 campaign, 1-0 while the Pioneers dropped to 0-1.

The Wildcats came alive in the second half, using a 21-point third quarter to gain a 43-41 lead and put the game away with a 22-15 spread in the fourth.

The first quarter was dominated by Wildcat newcomer Bre Valentine who scored the first points of the season and accounted for six of the team’s 11 points. Lexi Troup converted an old-fashioned three-point play and RaeAnna Andreas pitched in with a layup.

Alfred State pushed its lead to eight (23-14) with seven minutes to go in the opening half before Andreas stopped the Pioneer run with a layup and a Mia Patterson bucket pulled the Wildcats within five, but Alfred State would maintain a 30-22 lead at the break.

Out of the half, St. John Neumann graduate Gigi Parlante returned to form with 12 of the Wildcats’ 21 points in the third quarter as her layup with 45 seconds left in the third put the Wildcats ahead for good.

Valentine shined in her Wildcat debut with a team-high 18 points and 10 rebounds for a double-double while adding seven assists and two blocks. Parlante joined Valentine with a double-double effort of her own with 16 points and 10 boards. Andreas also finished in double figures with 11 points and a team-best three steals.

Penn College shot 45.5% (20-44) and went 72.7% (24-33) from the line while holding the Pioneers to 29.6% shooting (21-71) and forced 16 turnovers to earn the victory.

Penn College has a quick turnaround to make its home-opening debut on Saturday against Keuka at 3 p.m.