BLOOMSBURG, Pa. – Kutztown women's basketball entered Wednesday night in fifth place in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Eastern Division standings with two games left. Following play at the end of the night, KU had the best possible outcome come to fold as it defeated Bloomsburg 53-47 on the road and saw Millersville and East Stroudsburg, the third and fourth place teams, respectively, go down.
The Golden Bears (13-14 overall, 11-10 overall) have now won two games in-a-row and are riding their first win streak since they won four straight from Jan. 7-18. They also bounced back from a previous loss to the Huskies (9-16, 7-14) back on Jan. 25, and evened the season series.
Leading 48-39 with 4:50 left to play, KU was forced to hold on in the end. Bloomsburg pulled to within just two points, 49-47, with 1:24 remaining, and had the ball, but
Zara Zerman (Jonestown, Pa./Northern Lebanon) collected a defensive rebound and then hit two free-throws after being fouled with 0:20 to go to put the game away.
Zerman finished with 11 points and five rebounds.
Naia Pulliam (Wilmington, Del./St. Elizabeth) recorded a game-high 17 points and also had five rebounds.
KU led by one (16-15) after the opening quarter and by four (26-22) at halftime. The advantage grew to a high of nine (46-37) after the third quarter.
Annie Whalen (Ivyland, Pa./Archbishop Wood) tallied eight points and
Shannon Remolde (Philadelphia, Pa./Saint Basil Academy) contributed six.
Sydney Pierson (Elizabethtown, Pa./Elizabethtown) notched four points and four rebounds.
Casey Remolde (Philadelphia, Pa./Saint Basil Academy) had three points and four rebounds and both
Abbey Hearn (Lewes, Del./Cape Henlopen) and
Noelle Baxter (Warminster, Pa./Archbishop Wood) added two points to round out the scoring for the Maroon and Gold.
Kutztown, which clinched a berth in the PSAC Tournament with its victory over Mansfield last Saturday, can earn the three seed and a home game in the first round with a win over Shepherd in the regular season finale this Saturday, Feb. 25, at 1 p.m.
