Live Stats |
Video KUTZTOWN, Pa. – KU's veteran trio of
Natalya Lee (Feasterville, Pa./Rancocas Valley Regional),
Kelsey Watson (Collegeville, Pa./Methacton) and
Jenna Altomare (Pennsylvania Furnace, Pa./State College Area) will look to rally the troops this Wednesday, Jan. 20, at 5:30 p.m. as the Kutztown University women's basketball team takes on Mansfield University in a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) matchup inside Keystone Arena.
Kutztown (7-9, 4-8 PSAC East) suffered a gut-wrenching defeat at East Stroudsburg last Saturday, Jan. 16, as it fell at the buzzer in a tough one-point loss. The Golden Bears were led by the PSAC's top trio of scorers once again as Lee, Watson and Altomare scored 48 of the team's 65 points.
On the season, KU's top three scorers are responsible for more than 66 percent of the team's points and more than 56 percent of the team's assists.
Mansfield (3-12, 1-11) heads into this Wednesday's matchup on a 10-game losing skid, including a 78-53 loss at home against West Chester on Saturday, Jan. 16.
Kutztown currently sits sixth in the PSAC East standings at 4-8, just two games out of fourth place, while Mansfield is eighth with its 1-11 record.
KU is sixth in the PSAC in scoring offense with 70.2 points per game, second with a 1.21 assist-to-turnover ratio and third in turnover margin at 4.06. Mansfield tends to wreak havoc on defense as it ranks second in the PSAC with 9.60 steals a game.
Watson leads KU and ranks in the top-10 in the PSAC in several statistical categories this season. She leads KU with 17.3 points per game (third in PSAC), 8.6 rebounds a game (seventh in PSAC), 29 steals (10th in PSAC) and 22 blocks (ninth in PSAC).
The Collegeville native, Watson, recently had a string of five consecutive double-doubles, the longest such streak for KU in the last 19 seasons. She has scored in double-figures in 15 of KU's 16 games and has scored 20 or more points five times.
Lee is second on KU in scoring with a career-best 15.4 points a game (12th in PSAC) and leads the team with 70 assists (ninth in PSAC). Lee has scored in double-figures 15 times this season and 58 times in her career. She ranks among the top-10 in KU history in scoring (1,105), assists (322), steals (170), 3-pointers (107) and free-throws made (280).
Altomare has excelled in her first season as a starter for Kutztown. She ranks third on the team with 13.9 points per game (17th in PSAC) and has led the PSAC in 3-pointers for most of the season. She sits atop the PSAC leaderboard with 51 triples and 3.2 per game. Altomare has hit a 3-pointer in all 16 games this season and has hit multiple triples 15 times. She has hit three or more 3-pointers 11 times, including in each of the last three games.
In the frontcourt, Junior
Gina Lewis (Atlantic City, N.J./Holy Spirit) has started 12 times and is averaging 5.7 points and 4.3 rebounds, while
Keifonna Ferguson (Norristown, Pa./Norristown Area) has played well off the bench with 4.3 points and 5.3 rebounds per game.
The backcourt has gotten production from junior
Kara Funk (Dover, Pa./Dover), and freshmen
Taylor Thames (Colmar, Pa./North Penn) and
Allison Girardi (Somerset, N.J./Immaculata). Funk has started 15 games and is third on KU with 38 assists. Thames has chipped in with 3.1 points a game and 25 assists, while Girardi has recorded 2.7 points a game and 27 assists.
Mansfield is led by Katie Fitzpatrick and Brielle Kelly. Fitzpatrick leads the Mountaineers with 16.4 points per game and 7.5 rebounds a game. Kelly is second on the team with 11.4 points and 6.0 rebounds per game.
The Golden Bears will be looking for their seventh straight win over Mansfield. KU's last loss to the Mountaineers was on Feb. 22, 2012.
