Box Score

EAST STROUDSBURG – Senior forward DeAnna Rayam scored a career-high 32 points, but visiting Kutztown held off East Stroudsburg University for a 66-58 win in PSAC East women's basketball on Monday night at Koehler Fieldhouse.

Rayam scored 10 points in the first half, then exploded for 22 after intermission to bring the Warriors back from a 36-29 halftime deficit. ESU went ahead 44-43 on a layup by Rayam with 12:10 left, but Kutztown pulled away and took a 12-point lead (59-47), its largest of the game, on back-to-back three-pointers with three minutes to go.

Rayam had scored 24 points in a game twice in her career, including a 66-64 win over Clarion last month, and has 994 career points. She can become the 13th 1,000-point scorer in school history when the Warriors travel to Mansfield for a 5:30 p.m. tip-off on Wednesday night.

Her 30-point game is the first at ESU since Jackie Yandrisevits scored 30 points against Lock Haven on January 10 last season, and Rayam's 32 points are the most since Yandrisevits scored 35 during her 1,000-point game against Moravian two years ago.

Rayam also became the fourth player in ESU women's basketball history to hit 100 career three-pointers. She was 4-for-9 from the three-point line to give her 102 for her career, and also recorded her 200th career assist.

Kristen Murray had 14 points and eight assists, Melissa McQuade posted 13 points and 13 rebounds and Ashley Wood scored 12 points for Kutztown. Freshman guard Barb Borst added 10 points for ESU, her second time in double figures in the last four games.

The Warriors hit seven three-pointers in the first half to hang with the Golden Bears (16-7, 7-3), who are two games behind first-place Millersville in the PSAC East. ESU led 10-6 early behind three's from Rayam and sophomore guard Cyara Woodridge, and Borst and senior guard Mel Villano also hit from long distance in the first 12 minutes.

Villano's three closed Kutztown's lead to 17-16 after an 11-3 run, but the Golden Bears used another spurt late in the half to go ahead 36-26 before redshirt sophomore forward Brittany McClain hit the seventh three-pointer of the first half with 1:02 remaining to trim the deficit to seven points at halftime.

Freshman center Kelly Sorber made her first career start and opened the second-half scoring for ESU, and Rayam's third three of the night made it a two-point game (36-34).

Rayam was just getting warmed up, as she scored 22 of ESU's 29 points in the second half and 11 of the next 13, beginning with her three-pointer at the 18:48 mark, to give the Warriors their only lead of the second half at 44-43 with just over 12 minutes to go.

McQuade hit a jumper to put the Golden Bears back in front two minutes later, while Rayam broke a four-minute scoreless drought for the Warriors with her fourth and final triple of the game to make it 49-47 Kutztown with 7:58 left.

Kutztown pulled away with a 10-0 run and established a 12-point lead with a pair of three-pointers by Meredith Starr and McQuade on consecutive possessions in the final four minutes.

Rayam had two three-point plays in the final 1:10 to get ESU back within single digits and finished her career-high night with a baseline layup with seven seconds left.

Wednesday night's game at Mansfield will complete a run of four games in seven days for the Warriors, who host Cheyney on Saturday at 1 p.m. at Millersville next Wednesday for Senior Night at 6 p.m. in their final two home games of the season.