KUTZTOWN, Pa. – The Kutztown women's basketball team punched its ticket into the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference's postseason tournament, coming from behind and then holding on to a late lead, winning 54-50 Saturday afternoon in an Eastern Divisional game at Keystone Arena.
The win snapped a three-game slide for the Golden Bears (13-12 overall, 11-8 PSAC). With Mansfield's defeat at Millersville Saturday, KU also clinched either the three or four seed, which means a home playoff game in the First Round on Monday, March 4.
Prior to the game Saturday, head coach
Janet Malouf and the program recognized four members on senior day,
Casey Remolde (Philadelphia, Pa./Saint Basil Academy),
Alicia Underkoffler (Elizabethtown, Pa./Elizabethtown),
Sydney Pierson (Elizabethtown, Pa./Elizabethtown) and
Zara Zerman (Jonestown, Pa./Northern Lebanon).
Zerman finished with a game-high 16 points and added three rebounds and four assists. Pierson flirted with a double-double, recording nine points and eight rebounds, to go along with two assists, two blocks and two steals.
It was a back-and-forth game throughout as, after each quarter, the margin was no greater than two in either quarter.
The two teams were even after the opening quarter. The Huskies had a 7-2 run in the first 5:12 to open the game as KU started 1-for-7 from the floor with four turnovers. Kutztown erased a five-point deficit (23-18) by scoring eight of the next 10 points in the final 4:29 of the second quarter to take a 26-25 halftime lead.
A layup by
Olivia Smelas (Jim Thorpe, Pa./Jim Thorpe) with 2:11 left in the third quarter gave KU a 41-39 lead, an advantage it would not give up the rest of the way, leading 44-41 after three on a 3-pointer by
Leila Hurley (Jim Thorpe, Pa./Jim Thorpe). KU went up by as much as nine points in the fourth quarter and did not allow Bloomsburg closer than three.
Smelas had 11 points and nine rebounds. Hurley tallied eight points and
Shannon Remolde (Philadelphia, Pa./Saint Basil Academy) nine points, five rebounds and three assists.
Kutztown remains at home for its next game, next Wednesday, Feb. 21, when it hosts Millersville at 5:30 p.m.
