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PSAC Championship Central (With Bracket)

KUTZTOWN, Pa. – Winners of its last three games and five of its last six to close the regular season, the Kutztown University women's basketball team plays host to an opening round game as the four-seed in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) playoffs on Monday night, matching up with the five-seed Bloomsburg University Huskies. Tip-off from Keystone Arena is slated for 5:30 p.m.

Students with a valid ID from a PSAC school will receive free admission. For the general public, adult tickets will be $7 and student tickets will cost $2. 

KU returns to the PSAC playoffs for the eighth time in the last 10 seasons under head coach Janet Malouf, hosting a first round game for the third time in the last four years. Kutztown (17-11, 12-10 PSAC) is already in the midst of a historic season, having won its most overall games since 2009-10 and its most home games since 1996-97, tying the school-record for home wins in a season.

The two predominant storylines this season for the Maroon and Gold have been the excellent play of the freshman class, which has accounted for 46.3 percent of their scoring, and the production from the reserve unit, whose 27.3 bench ppg is the most for the program in the last 20 years.

In its final regular season contest at Lock Haven, these themes continued to present themselves for KU as the bench totaled a season-high 58 points and freshman Alexis Smith (Dauphin, Pa./Central Dauphin) dropped 25 points, tying a school-record with seven three-pointers. Smith was named the PSAC Eastern Division's Athlete of the Week on Monday, averaging 19 ppg, 4.5 rpg and 4.5 made triples in the Golden Bears' two victories over East Stroudsburg and LHU. Fellow freshmen Rylee Derr (Lititz, Pa./Warwick) and Zoe Zerman (Jonestown, Pa./Northern Lebanon) totaled 13 points each, making a combined four three-point attempts.

Derr and Smith rank first and second on the team in scoring, averaging 13.5 ppg and 9.2 ppg, respectively, making a combined 125 three-pointers this year. Zerman, who leads the team in three-point percentage at 41.8 percent, has knocked down 23 shots from beyond the arc this year and averages 7.1 ppg, tied for fourth on KU. In total, the freshman class, which includes promising forward Kaila Brown (Westminster, Md./Winters Mill), has scored 869 of Kutztown's points this year. Zerman, Smith and Brown have done this primarily off the bench, accounting for a good portion of the Maroon and Gold's increased scoring from the reserve unit.

Derr has started all 28 games this year and leads the PSAC in both total three-pointers made (78) and three-pointers made per game (2.8). The Lititz-native is on the verge of breaking the all-time record for most points by a freshman in school history, needing just five points to eclipse Patty Gruber's mark of 381 points, set in 1986. Keifonna Ferguson (Norristown, Pa./Norristown Area) also enters Monday night's game on the brink of a personal milestone, having amassed 499 career rebounds, one shy of hitting the 500-mark for the senior from Norristown.

Kutztown and Bloomsburg have split their previous meetings this season, both of which were low-scoring affairs. KU came out on the winning end at home, 53-48, on Jan. 3, but fell to the Huskies on the road on Jan. 31, 68-60. In both contests, the Maroon and Gold struggled offensively, especially from the perimeter, making just two three-pointers in each game, which are tied for the team's season-low. Derr scored a team-high 12 points in the victory of Jan. 3 and Karen Lapkiewicz (Southampton, Pa./Saint Basil Academy) was the high-scorer for KU on Jan. 31, totaling 17 points.

Bloomsburg and Kutztown are both trending in the right direction headed into their playoff tilt with the Huskies having won seven straight and KU being 5-1 in its last six games. The Huskies are led by guard Alyssa Mack, who averages 10.4 ppg, and forward Taylor Montana, averaging 9.1 ppg and 6.2 rpg. Mack and Montana combined for 38 points in Bloomsburg's home win over the Maroon and Gold and are the key duo to neutralize for the Golden Bear defense.

Kutztown has shot the ball especially well of late, shooting over 40.0 percent from the field in its last four victories, a trend which must continue to get the victory on Monday night. Bloomsburg ranks third-to-last in the PSAC in scoring average at 59.8 ppg and towards the bottom in three-point percentage, shooting just 29.9 percent from beyond the arc. KU, which averages 67.1 ppg and shoots 32.8 percent from deep, is 10-3 this season when shooting 30-plus percent from distance and 11-2 when shooting 40-plus percent from the field.

For the Huskies, 11 of their 13 wins have come when scoring less than 70 points, having reached that total just twice this year. The Golden Bears have scored at least 70 in 12 games this year and are undefeated in those 12 contests. A high-scoring game surely favors the Maroon and Gold offense while a slower-paced defensive contest will be more suited for the Huskies' style of play.

Live stats, live video and game notes will be available via the links above, which are also accessible on www.kubears.com.