KUTZTOWN, Pa. – Senior center Olivia Smelas (Jim Thorpe, Pa./Jim Thorpe) tied the program record for rebounds in a game with 22 and Kutztown picked up an all-important 62-59 overtime victory over East Stroudsburg Tuesday night in a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Eastern Division game inside Keystone Arena.
 
Smelas was a force on the glass all game in her 40 minutes of action. Her 22 boards tied a program record that was set by Patti Blackman in 1989. The win also snapped a two-game losing streak for the Golden Bears (11-8 overall, 7-5 PSAC).
 
Smelas also finished with seven points, four assists and two steals. She had eight offensive rebounds and 14 defensively. Leila Hurley (Jim Thorpe, Pa./Jim Thorpe) led the team with 17 points and three steals. Danae Ellzy (Coatesville, Pa./Coatesville) also finished in double figures with 10 points. Both Ariana Smuda (Exton, Pa./Downingtown East) and Alexa Windish (Philadelphia, Pa./Archbishop Wood) tallied eight points and combined for 12 rebounds, with Smuda adding four blocks. Bella Quinn (Ashland, Ky./Russell) recorded seven points, six assists and two rebounds.
 
KU found itself trailing 54-50 with just 0:22 remaining. Hurley quickly took the inbounds pass and scored on a layup to cut the lead in half with 0:17 to play. Two missed free-throws from the Warriors gave the Maroon and Gold the ball back. Ellzy took her defender off the dribble and was fouled, later connecting both free-throws to tie the score at 54-54 with 0:10 left. ESU missed an attempted game-winning jumper as time expired in regulation.
 
Kutztown scored the opening four points of overtime on layups by Smuda and Windish on back-to-back possessions. The Golden Bears went on top 60-56 with 2:11 left and the offenses went quiet until East Stroudsburg pulled to within one at 60-59 with 0:58 to play. Smelas then came up big with back-to-back offensive rebounds on missed KU shots, which led to game-sealing free-throws from Quinn with 0:12 remaining.
 
The first half was back-and-forth and nearly identical in terms of team successes. ESU led 16-15 after the opening quarter and then KU outscored them 17-16 to even the score at 32-all at halftime. The Maroon and Gold shot 13-for-28 (46.4%), going 3-for-11 (27.3%) from long distance, while the Black and Red were 13-of-34 (38.2%) and 4-of-11 (36.4%) from 3-point range.
 
The story of the first half was turnovers and scoring off the mistakes. The Golden Bears had nine turnovers to just five for the Warriors and East Stroudsburg had a 13-1 advantage in points off turnovers. Jadyn Brenneman (New Fairfield, Conn./Western Reserve Academy) scored on a layup 0:45 into the second quarter, but ESU then went on a 12-4 run over the next 4:45 to take its biggest lead for any team of the half at seven (28-21) with 4:30 to go. Kutztown, however, scored 11 of the next 13 points, highlighted by five different players scoring.
 
Taylor Gurysh (Langhorne, Pa./Neshaminy) contributed three points and Brenneman rounded out the scoring with two points.
 
Kutztown has a quick turnaround and will remain at home for its next game this Thursday against Mansfield at 5:30 p.m., from Keystone Arena.

  Read Full Article