KUTZTOWN, Pa. (January 20, 2012)—Sophomore Avery Hodgson (Surf City, NJ/Southern Regional) (Surf City, NJ/ Southern Regional) recorded a double-double to help the Kutztown University women's basketball team to a solid 67-53 win over Millersville University in an exciting Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) matchup, Saturday afternoon at Keystone Arena.

The victory marked the first time that the Golden Bears (6-12 overall, 4-8 PSAC) have won consecutive games this season. The Golden Bears last beat the Marauders at Keystone Arena on Jan. 17, 2009, 60-56. In its last meeting with the Marauders (10-6 overall, PSAC), KU dropped a 67-58 decision. However Saturday was a clean slate for KU as it placed three players in double figures and received great efforts from its bench.

The Marauders tried to catch the Golden Bears late in the second half as they used a pair of free throws from Mashira Newman and one from Carly Gallagher to cut KU's lead to 55-51 with two minutes, five seconds remaining. But it was sophomore Andrea Sisson (Richmond, VA/Godwin)'s (Richmond, VA/ Godwin) big time 3-point basket just 11 seconds later that gave KU its reassurance to take the game back in control. KU's final five points resulted from trips to the charity stripe.

Kutztown controlled the entire second half where most of its leads were by double figures.

Hodgson's double-double consisted of 11 points and 10 rebounds. She has continued to be an asset to the Golden Bears as she adds to all aspects of the game. However, Hodgson wasn't always the athlete that you see in the maroon and gold.

“I started playing basketball in the second grade and I used to be horrible,” Hodgson said. “My parents motivated me to stick with it and get better and here I am today.”

Hodgson's motivation is clearly apparent as she leads the PSAC in free throw percentage (93.5).

“I like to have fun when I'm out there…I just love to play ball,” Hodgson said. “Today we came out aggressive and our goal was to shut down their key players, which we did.”

Junior Ashley Wood (Limerick, PA/Spring-Ford) (Limerick, PA/ Spring Ford) led the Golden Bears with 13 points. Wood also led with a team-high five assists.  Sisson finished with 10 points and three assists. She was 4-of-6 from the field and 2-of-4 from the 3-point range. Steph Zewe (Lewistown, PA/Indian Valley) (Lewistown, PA/ Indian Valley) added nine points and grabbed eight boards.

Newman led Millersville with 15 points along with seven rebounds. Newman was 5-for-8 from the field and 3-for-5 behind the arc. Gallagher added 10 points.

Kutztown took a 29-23 led at halftime. The Golden Bears rolled out to an impressive 19-9 lead after they used a 5-0 run initiated by a Zewe jumper and capped off by a layup from Alyssa Bonenberger (Walnutport, PA/Northampton Area) (Walnutport, PA/ Northampton) with 7:42 left to play. With 40 seconds left in the half, Sisson pushed KU's advantage to 29-20 with a jumper. However Millersville's Mashira Newman sunk a 3-pointer with 17 seconds left to bring the Marauders within six to close the first half.

The Golden Bears return back to action when they head to Mansfield University on Wednesday, Jan.25 for a PSAC game starting at 5:30 p.m.