EAST STROUDSBURG – The East Stroudsburg University women's basketball snapped a two-game losing streak on Saturday afternoon as the Warriors held off a late rally from Millersville, 60-59.
ESU (14-8, 10-6 PSAC) recorded a crucial PSAC East victory and swept the season series against the Marauders as senior
Tiffany Lapotsky hit a free-throw with just under two seconds left in the fourth quarter.
Lapotsky finished the game with 27 points and scored 20 in the opening half for the Warriors. Senior
Jordan Hertz recorded her second double-double of the season as she finished with 11 assists and 14 rebounds. Hertz becomes just the second player in program history to eclipse the 500 career assists mark and now has 507 and sits 100 behind all-time leader Stacy Perryman (607).
Redshirt sophomore
Julia Kutz would give the Warriors an early 6-2 advantage following a layup off an assist from Hertz with 6:30 left in the first quarter. Lapotsky completed a 3-point play for the Warriors with 5:12 on the clock to make it 9-4 as ESU started a run that would push the lead to double-digits (15-4) following a trey from Junior
Kiersten Librizzi.
ESU would lead by as many as 14 points in the opening quarter as Lapotsky finished off a layup on the fast break following a steal at the opposite end of the court to make it 21-7 with just under two minutes left to play. Millersville closed the gap to 21-11 before the Warriors hit the final shot of the quarter as Librizzi made it 23-11.
Librizzi kept things going offensively for the Warriors to start the second quarter as her jumper extended the lead to 25-11 just 10 seconds into play. Lauren Lister sparked a 4-0 run for the Marauders, who cut the gap to 25-15 with 7:28 left in the half. The Warriors held their double-digit advantage until Erika Reed connected on a 3-pointer for Millersville to make it 29-20.
Lapotsky started a run for the Warriors with a pair of good free throws at the charity stripe. She tallied six consecutive points for ESU and increased the lead to 35-20 with 2:53 left in the half. The Warriors led by 14 before the Marauders closed the half on a 4-0 run to trim the deficit to 36-26 as Samantha Brusha connected on a trey.
Millersville rallied in the third quarter to cut the gap to single digits against ESU as Lister opened the half with back-to-back buckets to make it 36-30. Lapotsky answered for the Warriors as she extended ESU's lead to 40-32 after hitting a jumper in the paint. Reed sparked a 6-0 run for the Marauders as Millersville cut the deficit to 40-32 following consecutive 3-pointers.
The Marauders trailed 42-40 with 3:41 left in the quarter before ESU ended with a 5-1 run to take a 47-41 advantage into the fourth quarter. Redshirt junior
Sadie Cresswell beat the buzzer in the quarter with a 3-pointer as she took a feed from Hertz.
Lister opened the fourth with a trey to pull the Marauders within three on the scoreboard before junior
Kaitlyn Swint answered with a layup to spark a 7-0 run by the Warriors. Lapotsky closed the run with a free throw to make it 54-44 with 5:06 left in the contest. The Marauders would get back to work following the media timeout as Reed hit her fourth trey of the contest to cut the gap to 54-47.
Millersville cut the deficit to 57-55 with 1:20 left in the contest as Lister hit a pair of shots at the charity stripe before Swint finished a layup for ESU to increase the lead for ESU back to four. Lister continued her offensive push for the Marauders as she tallied four unanswered points to knot the contest 59-59 with just 10 seconds left.
Lapotsky would be fouled with just one second left on the game clock and hit the second of her two free throws to make it 60-59. Following a timeout by Millersville, the Marauders would have their inbound pass broken up by Kutz to end the contest.
The Warriors led for 36:51 in the contest while the score was tied for 2:42. ESU held a 40-33 edge in rebounds, while Millersville scored 22 points off 18 ESU turnovers. ESU hosts Kutztown on Wednesday at 6 p.m. inside Koehler Fieldhouse.
