Highlights
KUTZTOWN, Pa. – The Kutztown University women's basketball team knocked down a school-record 15 three-pointers, shooting 37.8 percent from distance, on its way to a 90-55 victory over Penn State Lehigh Valley on Saturday afternoon inside of Keystone Arena.
The freshman duo of
Alexis Smith (Dauphin, Pa./Central Dauphin) and
Rylee Derr (Lititz, Pa./Warwick) combined for 38 points, shooting 9-of-21 from beyond the arc, to pace the KU offensive attack, which scored a season-high 90 points. Individually, Smith poured in a season-high 24 points, going a perfect 7-for-7 from the free throw line, adding five rebounds, three steals and two assists for a stat-stuffing line from the freshman.
Applying a full-court press for much of the afternoon, the Golden Bears forced 31 PSU turnovers, converting for 41 points off of those. The KU bench was very effective again in the scoring department, led by Smith's 24, totaling 63-of-90 points as a unit.
Tied at 5-all, the Maroon and Gold used a 18-4 run to close the first quarter, which included two triples from Smith and one from Derr and
Kaylan Jackson (Germantown, Md./Clarksburg), to stake itself to a 23-9 advantage. From this juncture, the Golden Bears continued to stretch their margin in the second stanza, scoring 23 more points in the second quarter to go ahead 46-19 at the halftime break.
Holding a sizeable advantage, Kutztown was able to get some meaningful minutes for the likes of
Alex Leader (Hummelstown, Pa./Lower Dauphin),
Kaila Brown (Westminster, Md./Winters Mill) and
Gabby Bloshuk (Easton, Pa./Easton Area) in the second half. For Brown and Bloshuk, it was their first action of the 2017-18 campaign and each made a three-pointer in their first attempt donning the Maroon and Gold. The trio of Leader, Brown and Bloshuk finished with eight, seven and six points, respectively.
Kaylan Jackson (Germantown, Md./Clarksburg) joined Derr and Smith as the third scorer in double-digits for KU, chipping in 10 points and adding nine rebounds.
With head coach
Janet Malouf recovering from a surgical procedure, assistant coach
Justin Hallman stepped in admirably, filling the shoes of Kutztown's all-time winningest coach, to lead the team back to .500 (3-3, 0-2 PSAC) with the win.
The Golden Bears continue their home-stand on Wednesday evening, taking on the Jefferson University Rams at 7:00 p.m.
