GEORGIAN COURT PHOTO GALLERY
KUTZTOWN, PA (December 3, 2010) – After enjoying lots of home cooking over the last two weeks, the Kutztown University women's basketball team pays a visit to the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia for its first road game in 17 days. Tip-off is at 1 p.m. from Bobbi C. Morgan Arena on 43rd and Woodland Avenue in Southwest Philadelphia.
The Golden Bears (4-1 overall) head into Saturday afternoon's matchup at the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia (2-2) with a four-game winning streak. With a victory against USP, Kutztown will have its longest winning streak since it started the 2008-09 season with seven consecutive victories. KU won four straight games last season in the month of December.
Kutztown has won four of five match-ups all-time against USP, including three straight. The Golden Bears defeated USP, 87-54, last season at Keystone Arena.
The Golden Bears believe they'll enjoy a much better road experience than they did in their season-opener against nationally-ranked Holy Family. Things didn't go well for the Golden Bears that night in an 83-61 defeat. The Tigers had played a game already and this was the season-opener for the Golden Bears.
Since that contest, the Golden Bears have been on a roll.
“I believe playing on the road this time will be a lot better than the first time because we've had some games to get into a nice flow,” senior forward
Kristen Murray (Harrisburg, PA/Trinity) said. “The comforts of home are nice, but we're looking forward to the challenge of playing in a different environment. Overall, I think we'll be fine because everybody has been playing well.”
Kutztown concluded a dominant four-game homestand by defeating Chestnut Hill College, 90-58. Here's some amazing statistics from Kutztown's perfect home stand: The Golden Bears trailed for three out of a possible 160 minutes, won each game by an average of 27 points per contest, and held three teams below 60 points.
Against Chestnut Hill, senior forward
Melissa McQuade (Pittsburgh, PA/Shaler) finished with 24 points, nine rebounds and seven assists. She is poised to climb up the rebounding and scoring charts. With 1,241 points, McQuade needs eight to pass Brianne Homyak and move into fourth place on the all-time school scoring list. In addition, McQuade is five rebounds shy of moving past Robin Avery and into third place on KU's all-time rebounding list.
Also, playing with a lot of confidence for Kutztown has been freshman
Andrea Sisson (Richmond, VA/Godwin), who established career high point totals in the last two games. She scored 13 points against Georgian Court and 14 against Chestnut Hill. Sisson has fired in 13 3-pointers through five games for the Golden Bears. Senior
Kristen Murray (Harrisburg, PA/Trinity) pulled down a career-high 11 rebounds against Chestnut Hill. Sophomore
Steph Zewe (Lewistown, PA/Indian Valley) enjoyed a solid effort against CHC by finishing with 12 points.
McQuade is Kutztown's leading scorer, an averaging 15.0 points per game. She is one of three double figure scorers for Kutztown. Zewe is averaging 10.6 points and
Ashley Wood (Limerick, PA/Spring-Ford) is averaging 10.4 points per contest.
Now, the trick for the Golden Bears is to bottle that winning formula and transfer it to the road. USP will be the sixth straight member of the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) that Kutztown has faced to begin the season.
The Devils enter the game fresh off of a 68-52 victory over East Stroudsburg Tuesday night. Guard Alyssa Hamm scored a team-high 19 points. Also reaching double figures for USP were Caitlin Shaw (15 points), and Maria Chesanovich (10). The Devils were competitive in defeats against West Chester and Bloomsburg. Both of those squads were picked ahead of Kutztown in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Eastern Division preseason poll.
Shaw is USP's leading scorer (23.3 points per game) and rebounder (8.3 rebounds per game). She was named the CACC Player of the Week. Shaw has made 57.4 percent of her shots this season. Hamm is contributing 13.3 points per outing. She also leads the Devils with eight 3-pointers and 17 assists. Becca Ruggear is also a force on the boards as she pulls down 8.0 rebounds per contest.
“Our biggest test will be how well we shoot on the road,” Kutztown head women's basketball coach
Janet Malouff said after the Chestnut Hill game. “We have enough good players and shooters, and if we come with the determination that we had in the first eight minutes of the second half tonight, we'll do fine.”
Kutztown returns to action Thursday evening when it visits Washington Adventist in a game starting at 6 p.m.
--KU--
