KUTZTOWN, Pa. (February 3, 2010) – The Kutztown University women's basketball squad defeated Mansfield University, 76-44, in a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) women's basketball game Thursday night at Keystone Arena. (BOXSCORE)
The win was far from an artistic masterpiece, but the Golden Bears will happily take their second straight conference win and keep it moving. Kutztown did move into a tie with Shippensburg for fourth place as the conference race reached its halfway mark. Technically, the Golden Bears have an edge over Shippensburg based on their head-to-head win on Jan. 12.
It just so happens, Kutztown opens the second half of conference play hosting Shippensburg in a biggie Saturday afternoon at Keystone Arena starting at 1 p.m. The game will be broadcast live on WEEU 830-AM based out of Reading.
Before the Golden Bears (11-8 overall, 4-3 PSAC East) could think about Saturday's date against Ship, they had to ride the tag-team tandem of sophomore Ashley Wood (Limerick, PA/Spring-Ford) and Melissa McQuade (Pittsburgh, PA/Shaler) along with a suffocating defensive effort to victory. Wood led all scorers with 20 points. McQuade followed with 19 points as Kutztown's defense held Mansfield (6-13, 1-6) to 13 baskets the entire game.
For Wood, it was her sixth consecutive contest in double figures and the sixth time she has hit for 20 or more points in a game. Wood also had five rebounds and four steals. Meanwhile, McQuade reached double figures for the 77th time in her magnificent career. She upped her career totals in points (1,478) and rebounds (896). She also had four steals and four assists to go with her eight rebounds.
Brittany Le Van grabbed eight rebounds in 26 entertaining minutes and Steph Zewe (Lewistown, PA/Indian Valley) finished with seven boards for Kutztown. The Golden Bear defense forced 29 Mansfield turnovers.
It took a while, but the Golden Bears finally shook free from the Mountaineers midway through the first half. Reignning PSAC East Freshman of the Week Andrea Sisson (Richmond, VA/Godwin) hit consecutive 3-pointers to break a 15-15 tie. Her first 3-pointer with 7 minutes, 53 seconds remaining in the first half gave Kutztown the lead for good, 18-15. She doubled the Golden Bears' advantage with another deep triple 44 seconds later.
Zewe gave KU its first double-digit edge of the contest, 25-15 when she converted a beautiful McQuade pass into a layup with 3:52 remaining in the opening half. Kutztown's lead never dropped below double digits.
Sisson's accuracy from deep help Kutztown finish the first half on a 20-4 run. During that run, Kutztown's defense was at its best. The Golden Bears forced six turnovers and harassed Mansfield into missing its final eight shots from the field of the first half.
Overall, nine of the 10 players who saw action scored for the Golden Bears. With her three assists, point guard Meredith Starr (Richmond, VA/Monacan) upped her career total and moved passed Megan Bainbridge and into third place on the KU all-time assist list. Starr has 362 career assists.
Kayla Espigh led Mansfield with 15 points. Mallory Moore added nine points and seven rebounds for the Mountaineers. Guard Nicole Pender contributed six assists and three steals. Mansfield's next game is at West Chester Saturday afternoon beginning at 1p.m.
Kutztown and Mansfield meet again at Decker Gym on Wednesday, Feb. 23.
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