KUTZTOWN, Pa. –  The East Stroudsburg University women's basketball team opened PSAC East action on Friday night with a 74-69 victory against Kutztown University. The Warriors extended their winning streak to three games and snapped a three-game losing streak against the Golden Bears.
 
ESU (8-4, 4-2 PSAC) tallied its first road victory of the season and defeated the Golden Bears for the first time since January 20, 2018. Kutztown outscored ESU 20-18 in the first quarter before the Warriors responded by tallying 15 points in the second quarter and 26 points in the final frame.
 
Senior Tiffany Lapotsky paced the Warriors offensively with 28 points on 7-of-17 shooting from the field and a 13-for-15 showing at the charity stripe. Redshirt sophomore Julia Kutz added 15 points and her first career double-double with 14 rebounds. Junior Kaitlyn Swint added nine points and four rebounds, while senior Jordan Hertz recorded a team-high five assists.
 
Kutztown would lead by as many as five points in the first quarter as Gabbi Wright finished a layup in the paint to make it 16-11 with 4:15 on the clock. ESU trimmed the deficit to 17-16 with a minute left to play after completing an old-fashioned 3-point play. Kutz finished a layup with six seconds left on the clock to make it 20-18 going to the second quarter.
 
The deficit for the Warriors would be six before junior Abby Schoffstall connected on a trey to knot the score 28-28 with 4:25 left in the half. Kutztown quickly increased its lead to 33-28 with 1:25 left before Lapotsky notched five consecutive points to even the score at 33-33 with 42 seconds left to play.
 
Kutz would give ESU a 37-35 lead with 8:20 left in the third quarter following a layup. She would later increase the Warriors' advantage to 45-39 after connecting on a pair of shots at the free-throw line. The Warriors would take a 48-45 lead into the fourth quarter as Lapotsky went 1-of-2 at the charity stripe.
 
ESU took its largest lead of the night with 7:32 left to play in the final frame as Lapotsky hit a pair of shots at the charity stripe to make it 53-46. The Golden Bears rallied to trim the deficit to a single point on several occasions as Casey Remolde hit a jumper to make it 56-55. Kutztown would then take a 57-56 lead with 3:57 left to play.
 
The Warriors closed the contest with seven points at the free-throw line despite the Golden Bears draining a pair of 3-pointers in the final minute of action. Rylee Derr hit a trey with 13 ticks left on the clock to make it 72-69 before Lapotsky closed the game with a pair of made free-throws with five seconds left.
 
ESU heads to Millersville on Monday for a 5:30 p.m. meeting with the Marauders before returning home on January 8 to host Bloomsburg inside Koehler Fieldhouse at 6 p.m.