KUTZTOWN, PA (March 2, 2010) – The Kutztown University women's basketball team survived a six-minute scoring drought late in regulation, and a game-tying 3-pointer with 11 seconds remaining to eventually defeat Bloomsburg University, 74-67, in overtime in a pulse pounder of a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) quarterfinal contest Tuesday night at Keystone Arena. (BOXSCORE)

With the victory, Kutztown advances to the PSAC Final Four for the first time since the 2005-06 season at Gannon University's Hammermill Center. The Golden Bears (19-9 overall) will meet No. 1 ranked and host Gannon (31-0) at 7:30 p.m. in the second semifinal Friday night. California will play West Chester in the first semifinal at 5:30 p.m. Kutztown dropped an 86-68 decision to Gannon on Jan. 2 at Keystone Arena.

The back-and-forth contest featured 10 lead changes and six ties along with more thrills than an amusement park ride.

The Golden Bears used a balanced effort to defeat Bloomsburg for the first time in three tries this season. Junior forward Melissa McQuade led Kutztown with 22 points, 15 rebounds and seven assists. It was McQuade's seventh double-double of the season. McQuade raised her career point total to 1,150 points. She passed Janelle Needham (1,134) and into seventh place on the all-time Kutztown University women's basketball scoring list.

Senior forward Vivian Melvin added 14 points, six rebounds and five assists. Senior guard Rachel Wisemiller finished with 13 points, leaving her at 997 for her career. Senior center Chauntelle Schroeder added 12 points and five rebounds before fouling out.

“Being that this our first time as seniors advancing to the semifinals, it's very exciting and something we've worked for all season," Melvin said. "We were able to keep Bloomsburg's guards under control and our defense was great today."

Kayla Oxenrider paced Bloomsburg (16-11) with 21 points and seven rebounds. Kelsey Gallagher, the reigning PSAC East player of the week, had a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds. Alyssa Flanagan scored 10 points, grabbed six rebounds and handed out five assists.

Oxenrider forced overtime when she made a 3-pointer with 11 seconds remaining to tie the game at 60-60. The Golden Bears had two chances to win the game at the end of regulation. The overtime belonged to Kutztown, who never trailed in the extra five-minute session. Schroeder's foul shot 32 seconds into overtime gave Kutztown the lead for good, 61-60.

Flanagan sank a pair of foul shots to pull Bloomsburg to within, 63-62, with 2:04 remaining. On the Golden Bears' next possession, Meredith Starr found McQuade, who sank a 3-pointer from the left wing with 1:55 remaining to give KU a 66-62 lead. The difference in overtime was Kutztown's defense. Bloomsburg made 1-of-6 shots in overtime. The Huskies' first made basket in overtime came with KU leading 72-64 with 12 seconds remaining in the contest.

Kutztown seemingly had taken control after McQuade drained a 3-pointer for a 56-49 lead with 7:04 remaining in the second half. However, the Golden Bears went cold, missing 12 consecutive shots during a 6:34 stretch of regulation.

Although Bloomsburg sliced KU's lead to 56-55 on a Lara Giselle layup with 4:30 remaining, it was never able to take the lead. Bloomsburg had the ball four times with an opportunity to grab an advantage. Kutztown's defense held strong.

We were nervous but we kept our focus and trusted each other to make shots," Melvin said "We found a way to pull through at the end and get the job done. We really wanted to beat Bloomsburg and prove to ourselves that we could do it."

After beginning the game by racing to a 15-7 advantage five minutes into the game, Bloomsburg recovered to control much of the first half. Over the next 11 minutes, the Huskies outscored Kutztown, 20-5, to open their largest lead of the contest, 27-20 with 6:19 remaining in the first half. Bloomsburg held the lead for the rest of the first half after Oxenrider made a foul shot to give BU a 20-19 lead. The Huskies held a 33-31 lead at halftime.

Now, the Golden Bears face the opportunity of a lifetime in the semifinals when they meet Gannon, a team owns the second-longest winning streak at any level of the NCAA, behind only NCAA Division I Connecticut's 69-game streak.

The squad is the lone undefeated team left in NCAA Division II and one of five women's teams at any level. Division I UConn (30-0), Division I Nebraska (27-0), Division III Amherst (25-0) and Division III Christopher Newport (27-0) also have unblemished marks. However in the first meeting of the season, Kutztown and Gannon were tied, 41-41, at intermission and at 49-49, with 15:00 remaining. Melvin scored a team-high 18 points for Kutztown in the first meeting against Gannon.

"We're excited to have an opportunity to play Gannon," Melvin said. "We know its going to be a big challenge. We know that we have to play to the best of our ability and see what happens.  Having the experience of playing them helps a little because it gives us a better feel of what we're playing against and what we need to work on.” 

--KU--