KUTZTOWN, Pa. – Seton Hill jumped out to a 19-2 lead after the opening quarter and never looked back on its way to a 79-54 victory in a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference quarterfinal round matchup Wednesday night inside Keystone Arena.
 
The Golden Bears' season comes to an end at 19-10 overall. Their title defense comes to a close in the quarters. The Griffins (21-7) advance to the semifinal round to take on Gannon on Saturday. The loss snaps a six-game win streak for KU.
 
Sophomore forward Madison Siggins (Allentown, Pa./Parkland) and junior center Ariana Smuda (Exton, Pa./Downingtown East) each finished with 14 points to lead the Maroon and Gold offense. Siggins also had four rebounds and three steals, while Smuda added eight rebounds and three blocks. Both players are expected back next season and will be vocal points to the team. Another underclassman, freshman point guard Jadyn Brenneman (New Fairfield, Conn./Western Reserve Academy), tallied eight points and five rebounds.
 
The senior class, consisting of Leila Hurley (Jim Thorpe, Pa./Jim Thorpe), Olivia Smelas (Jim Thorpe, Pa./Jim Thorpe) and Danae Ellzy (Coatesville, Pa./Coatesville) finished off their careers in Maroon and Gold Wednesday night. Hurley and Ellzy both scored four points and combined for five boards. Hurley ended her career with 180 made 3-pointers, which ranks fourth all-time in program history. Smelas recorded two points, 10 rebounds and three steals. She finishes with 823 career rebounds, which is fourth-best all-time. Her 183 steals ranks seventh in program lore and her 114 blocks is also in the top-10 at 10th.
 
Seton Hill showed its talent from the opening whistle, scoring the game's first six points and jumping out to a double figure lead 7:29 into the contest. Kutztown shot 1-for-13 from the floor in the first quarter and were 0-for-their-first-13 from beyond the arc, spanning two-and-a-half quarters. KU trailed 38-16 at halftime and could just never get closer than 16 points the rest of the way.
 
Taylor Gurysh (Langhorne, Pa./Neshaminy) had six points and Bella Quinn (Ashland, Ky./Russell) contributed two.

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