KUTZTOWN, Pa. – Kutztown women's basketball shot a season-best 44.1% from the floor and 41.9% from three-point land in picking up a 75-56 non-conference victory over Goldey-Beacom Wednesday night in the home opener at Keystone Arena.
The Golden Bears (2-3 overall), who played their first four games on the road, including two down in Texas, got their home portion of the schedule rolling in the right direction.
Naia Pulliam (Wilmington, Del./St. Elizabeth), approaching a career milestone, led the way with a season-high 21 points, leading a group of 12 Golden Bears that found the score sheet, another season-best. The senior was 6-for-11 (54.5%) from the floor, 5-of-9 (59.6%) from long range and 4-for-4 (100%) from the free-throw line. She also added five rebounds.
Leila Hurley (Jim Thorpe, Pa./Jim Thorpe) just missed on a double-figure scoring night with eight points, draining three 3-pointers.
Taylor Gurysh (Langhorne, Pa./Neshaminy) and
Bella Arcuri (Fallsington, Pa./Pennsbury) recorded seven points with the latter contributing three rebounds and three assists.
Pulliam and Hurley had hot-shooting first halves, with Pulliam leading the way with 15 points on 5-of-9 shooting, all five shots coming from beyond the arc. Hurley scored eight first half points, going 3-for-6 from the floor and 2-for-5 from long distance. KU as a team connected on nine first half 3-pointers, a season-best.
The Maroon and Gold began the first quarter strong in their first appearance in front of the home crowd, outscoring the Lightning 22-13 in that opening frame. The teams each hit two 3-pointers on their back-to-back offensive possessions. With the score tied 6-6, Kutztown rattled off five straight points, all from Hurley, and finished the quarter on a 16-7 run.
The teams were mostly even in the second quarter as Goldey-Beacom held a 12-11 advantage and went into the locker room at halftime trailing 33-25.
The Lightning pulled to within just three points (33-30) 1:04 into the third quarter, but that was the closest they would get the rest of the way as the Maroon and Gold scored seven straight to go back on top by double digits (40-30). Kutztown took its largest advantage of the game (54-36), to date, on a jumper by
Abbey Hearn (Lewes, Del./Cape Henlopen) with 1:45 left in the third, and then extended the lead into the 20s in the fourth quarter.
Hearn recorded six points and eight rebounds.
Shannon Remolde (Philadelphia, Pa./Saint Basil Academy),
Jess Aponik (Philadelphia, Pa./Germantown Academy) and
Alexa Windish (Philadelphia, Pa./Archbishop Wood) all netted five points.
Kitty Randa (Horsham, Pa./Hatboro-Horsham) had four points.
Bella Quinn (Ashland, Ky./Russell) contributed three points and four assists and both
Anaya Price (Newark, Del./Caravel Academy) and
Anna Stein (Collegeville, Pa./Perkiomen Valley) added two points to round out the scoring for KU.
Pulliam is now 29 points away from 1,000 points for her career.
Kutztown hits the road once again to take on Jefferson this Saturday, Nov. 16, at 2 p.m.
