KUTZTOWN, Pa. – The Kutztown University women's basketball team opened the new calendar year in style by defeating West Chester University 64-53 Wednesday night at Keystone Arena in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference East Division opener for both teams. In doing so, head coach Janet Malouf earned career victory number 400.
 
Malouf is the program's all-time winningest coach and is in her 27th season at the helm.
 
The Golden Bears (11-3 overall, 4-1 PSAC) had not played in 17 days, but that did not matter as they kept their winning streak going, extending it to five wins in-a-row.
 
Four different players scored in double-figures led by 15 from Casey Remolde (Philadelphia, Pa./Saint Basil Academy). The junior just missed out on her second double-double of the season, grabbing nine rebounds and finishing with two blocks. She leads the PSAC with 33 blocks, which also ranks seventh in Division II. Rylee Derr (Lititz, Pa./Warwick) did record a double-double, finishing with 11 points and 11 rebounds. She is 37 points shy of the program's all-time career scoring record. Alexis Smith (Dauphin, Pa./Central Dauphin) and Annie Whalen (Ivyland, Pa./Archbishop Wood) also tallied 11 points, each connecting on three 3-pointers.
 
Even with the layoff, Kutztown came out shooting well, netting nine of the game's first 11 points and ended the first quarter with a 23-15 lead. The second quarter was more of a defensive battle by both teams as KU outscored the Golden Rams (3-9, 1-5) 9-6 and took a double-digit advantage (32-21) into halftime.
 
The Maroon and Gold continued its prowess on both ends of the floor, taking as much as a 16-point lead (42-26) at the 5:17 mark of the third, and finished the frame ahead 45-32. But West Chester did not go away. WCU pulled to within single digits (54-46) with 4:10 left to play, and found itself down by just five (58-53) with 1:22 to go. But Derr, Remolde and Zara Zerman (Jonestown, Pa./Northern Lebanon) combined to go 4-for-6 from the line and KU made some stops on defense to hold on for the win.
 
Zerman finished with eight points and tied a season-high with six assists. Abbey Hearn (Lewes, Del./Cape Henlopen) had four points, six rebounds, two assists and one block, and both Naia Pulliam (Wilmington, Del./St. Elizabeth) and Noelle Baxter (Warminster, Pa./Archbishop Wood) contributed two points, with the former grabbing three rebounds.
 
Kutztown is scheduled to play at East Stroudsburg on Saturday, Jan. 8, at 1 p.m., from Koehler Fieldhouse.