EAST STROUDSBURG – The East Stroudsburg University women's basketball team played their first home game of 2022, falling to Kutztown, 58-40, on Saturday afternoon at Koehler Fieldhouse.
The Warriors drop 1-9 on the season and 0-7 in the conference while the Golden Bears with their sixth-straight game to improve to 12-3 overall and 5-1 in the conference.
Notables
- Graduate student Ryan Weise paced the Warriors with 11 points to go along with three rebounds and an assist
- Freshman Bianca Giordano poured in a career-high eight points, had two assists and one steal
- Izzy Vogel added six points, five rebounds and an assist
- Redshirt junior Cassie Ksiazek did a little but of everything with three points, six rebounds, three assists, three blocks and one assist
- The Warriors were 14-of-47 (29.8) from the field and 6-of-14 (42.9) from beyond the arc
- Kutztown had three players in double figures including a team-high from Rylee Derr and 10 apiece from Alexis Smith and Zara Zerman. The Golden Bears finished 19-of-47 (40.4) from field overall and 10-of-22 (45.5) from the three-point line.
- The Golden Bears held the edge at the free throw line finishing 10-of-14 (71.4) while ESU was just 6-of-10 (60.0)
- The teams combined for 42 turnovers which included 22 for the Golden Bears and 20 for the Warriors
How It Happened
- After a handful of missed shots by each team to begin the game, the Warriors went out in front 10-6 after a layup by Vogel capped an 8-3 run. However, the Golden Bears answered with a 6-0 sprint over the final two minutes to a take a 12-10 lead after the first quarter.
- Ksiazek opened the second quarter with a basket to tie the contest at 12-12 and after a three-minute scoreless drought for each team, Giordano hit a jump shot to regain the lead for the Warriors. Kutztown found their grove over the final 5:10 of the half as they used a 10-0 run to grab a 25-14 advantage into the break.
- Both team's experienced hot shooting to begin the second half as the Warriors and Golden Bears each scored 10 points headed into the media timeout. Out of the break, ESU outscored Bloomsburg 9-5 to cut their deficit to seven at 40-33 headed into the final 10 minutes.
- The Golden Bears scored the first six points of the fourth quarter before a deep three-pointer by Weise snapped a scoreless drought at the 3:36 mark to make the score 46-36 in favor of Kutztown. Over the final three-plus minutes of the game, the Golden Bears outscored ESU 12-4 to hang on for the 58-40 victory.
Up Next
ESU returns to the road on Monday with a quick trip on I-80 to square off against Bloomsburg. Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m. inside Nelson Fieldhouse.
