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KUTZTOWN, Pa. – The Kutztown University women's basketball team will make the short trip to Cheyney University on Saturday, Feb. 17 for a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Eastern Division matchup with the Wolves. Tip-off from Alfred Cope Hall is scheduled for 1 p.m.
 
Head coach Janet Malouf, who ranks fifth all-time in PSAC women's basketball history in career wins, is on the verge of a milestone, having notched her 349th win over Shippensburg on Feb. 12. Head men's basketball coach Bernie Driscoll passed the 300-win threshold this season, making Kutztown the only school in the PSAC with two active coaches who have 300 or more career victories.
 
In the Maroon and Gold's last matchup, KU felt the effects of having two games in three days, looking fatigued for much of the game versus Millersville on Wednesday, Feb. 14, in which it fell 64-57. Rylee Derr (Lititz, Pa./Warwick) and Karen Lapkiewicz (Southampton, Pa./Saint Basil Academy) each scored 19 points, but the rest of the team could only muster 19 total points in support of this duo in a game in which the Golden Bears collectively struggled to convert on the offensive end. As a team, Kutztown shot 31.3 percent from the field and 26.9 percent from distance, scoring just 23 first-half points. The Marauders completed the regular-season sweep of KU with the win and extended their winning streak over the Golden Bears to three-in-a-row.
 
Derr, who was named to the Lehigh Valley Small College Basketball Media Organization's Team of the Year last week, knocked down four three-pointers in the game, extending her consecutive games with a three-point make to 17 straight. The Lititz native is also approaching the KU freshman all-time scoring record, having totaled 336 points thus far, trailing Patty Gruber's freshman record of 381 points, set in 1985, by just 45 with a minimum of four games to go.
 
With that game now in the rearview mirror, Malouf's squad turns its focus to an important game at Cheyney with playoff positioning hanging in the balance as it hopes to stay in its top-four spot in the Eastern Division standings. KU (14-11, 9-10 PSAC) sits in fourth-place, a half-game behind Millersville and 1.5 games up on a hot Bloomsburg squad, which has now won five straight. The top-two seeds are already locked up in the East with West Chester, who has won 15 in-a-row, and East Stroudsburg having secured first-round byes and second-round home games in the PSAC playoffs.
 
Kutztown knows the importance of keeping pace with both Millersville, who hosts Lock Haven on Saturday, and Bloomsburg, who is off this weekend, in order to secure an all-important first round home game. Not only was this a stated goal for this team in the preseason, but it has also played its best basketball this season at Keystone Arena, sporting an 11-3 home record.
 
The Wolves (5-20, 3-16 PSAC), despite their record, are an energetic squad never to be taken lightly, especially in their home gym, as they are in search of their first home victory of the 2017-18 season. When the two sides last met, the Golden Bears allowed Cheyney to hang around in the opening eight minutes at home on Jan. 17, but a 9-0 run to close the first quarter gave Kutztown a 25-11 lead, putting KU well on its way to a convincing 85-69 win. Derr, who tied a school-record with seven three-pointers, all of which came in the first half, and Alexis Smith (Dauphin, Pa./Central Dauphin) shot a collective 11-of-13 from deep, totaling a combined 39 points.
 
For Cheyney, TaKayla Ellis and Marlon Herring each tallied 17 points and Yasmine Dorrielan had eight points and nine rebounds on the inside. Ellis and Dorrielan lead the Wolves in almost all statistical categories and will be the duo for KU to neutralize if it wants to repeat the result from earlier this season and extend its overall win streak to four-straight over Cheyney.
 
Live stats, live video and game notes will be available via the links above, which are also accessible on www.kubears.com.