KUTZTOWN, Pa. – Junior point guard Zoe Zerman (Jonestown, Pa./Northern Lebanon) inbounded the ball with just 0:03 left on the clock and her team trailing Shepherd University by two pounts. Zerman found senior Brianna Tarabocchia (Woodcliff Lake, N.J./Northern Valley Regional), who quickly passed it right back to Zerman, who then lofted a right-handed shot over her defender that rolled around the basket and then dropped.
 
Tie game. 61-61.
 
Kutztown held all of the momentum going into the overtime period, and it showed, outscoring the Rams 17-10 over the extra five-minute period to win the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) East Division game 78-71, Saturday afternoon inside Keystone Arena.
 
With the victory, the Golden Bears (15-9 overall, 12-6 PSAC) clinched a spot in the PSAC Tournament, beginning Monday, March 2. They played in the tournament's championship game last March, and currently sit in a three-way tie for second place with Shepherd and East Stroudsburg, all boasting 12-6 conference marks.
 
Zerman finished with 16 points, five rebounds and four assists in 35 minutes of action. Alexis Smith (Dauphin, Pa./Central Dauphin) had the hot hand most of the day and led the KU lineup with 23 points, a season-high for the junior. She also had a career-best nine rebounds and tied a career-high with two blocks. Tarabocchia was the third KU player scoring in double-figures with 11 points, while adding three rebounds, four assists and two steals.
 
The PSAC's top-two individuals in blocks were inside the same arena Saturday in Kutztown's freshman Casey Remolde (Philadelphia, Pa./Saint Basil Academy) and Shepherd's junior Sydney Clayton. Remolde entered with 50 blocks on the year, two ahead of Clayton, and remained on top of the league in the category after the 45-minute game, finishing with four blocks, and now has at least one swat in all but two games this season. KU as a team led in the category 9-1 over the Rams (18-6, 12-6). Remolde also tallied four points, five rebounds, two assists and two steals in 39 minutes.
 
Kutztown led 12-10 after the opening quarter, but was outscored by Shepherd 15-9 in the second and trailed 25-21 at halftime. The teams were deadlocked in the third quarter and KU found itself behind 44-40 heading into the fourth.
 
The comeback effort looked bleak when the Rams opened the quarter scoring the first four points to go up by eight (48-40), their highest margin of the game. But the Maroon and Gold battled back and cut their deficit to within just one, 50-49, with 6:38 left. The Rams got it back to four (57-53) and even three (58-55) with 2:38 to go, and then a jumper by Zerman and two free-throws by Remolde tied the game at 59-59 with 0:17 remaining.
 
Kutztown was called for a foul, and the game's leading scorer, Abby Beeman knocked down two free-throws with 0:03 left to go with her 26 points. But then Zerman came up with the clutch play to extend her team's chances.
 
In the overtime period, Smith and Rylee Derr (Lititz, Pa./Warwick) scored on back-to-back possessions to give KU a 65-54 advantage with 3:08 to go, and it held on the rest of the way.
 
Kutztown hosts West Chester University on Wednesday, Feb. 29, at 5:30 p.m. at Keystone Arena.