EAST STROUDSBURG – Outscoring Kutztown by eight points and holding the Golden Bears to 1-of-11 shooting in the fourth quarter, the East Stroudsburg University women's basketball team earned a 53-50 come from behind victory in a crucial PSAC East game on Wednesday night at Koehler Fieldhouse.
The Warriors post the season sweep over Kutztown for the first time since 2019-20, pushing their record to 14-12 overall and 10-10 in the PSAC East, while the Golden Bears slide to 11-14 on the year and 9-10 in the conference.
Entering the final 10 minutes trailing 41-36, the Warriors went on a 7-1 run over the first 2:49 of the period to pull ahead 42-41. From there it was back and forth as each team registered eight points over the next four minutes to bring the score to 51-50 in favor of ESU with 48 seconds remaining.
With ESU in possession, the Warriors committed an offensive foul to give the ball back to Kutztown as the Golden Bears went on to miss four consecutive shots around the rim before graduate student
Ryan Weise pulled down the rebound.
The Warriors then missed a pair of free throws, giving the ball back to Kutztown who proceeded to throw away the ball on an inbound pass. With three seconds left, senior
Claire Courter iced the game with a pair a free throws.
Offensively, the Warriors were paced by a pair of double digit scorers in Weise (14 points) and sophomore
Izzy Vogel (13 points). Weise added six rebounds, one assist and steal a piece while Vogel tallied five boards, three assists, two steals and a block.
Notables
- Graduate student Shyla Sanford (four rebounds, three steals) and sophomore Leah Pishock (three rebounds, one block) each registered nine points
- In 32 minutes off the bench, Corrin Gill did a little bit of everything as the sophomore finished with two points, two rebounds, four assists, one steal and one block
- ESU went 14-of-46 (30.4%) from the floor and 4-of-11 (16.7%) from beyond the arc
- Kutztown finished the game shooting 19-of-51 (37.3%) overall and only 2-of-18 (11.1%) from the long distance. In the first and fourth quarters combined the Golden Bears went 3-of-24 (12.5%) compared to 16-of-27 (59.3%) in the middle two periods
- The free throw line proved to be the difference as the Warriors' knocked down a season-high 21-of-28 (75.0%) while the Golden Bears went 10-of-14 (71.4%)
- Kutztown held a huge advantage for points in the paint, 30-10, as well as the edge in rebounds, 39-28
- ESU forced the Golden Bears to 23 turnovers, which included 15 in the first half, compared to 15 total for the Warriors
- With four more three pointers tonight, Weise registered the 142nd of her ESU career to move into tie with Imani Brown for third all-time
- ESU slides back up to the No. 4 seed in the PSAC East standings with the victory as the Warriors have a pair of regular season games remaining
How It Happened
- Both teams struggled offensively to open the night as ESU grabbed a 5-2 lead headed into the media timeout following a three pointer from Weise. Out of the break, the Warriors outscored the Golden Bears by one point for a 10-6 advantage at the end of the first quarter.
- The Golden Bears battled back to begin the second quarter, scoring six of the 10 points registered to cut their deficit to 14-12. Following the media break, Kutztown outscored ESU, 7-4, to take a 19-18 lead headed into halftime.
- Kutztown came out of the locker room on fire as the Golden Bears used a 10-3 run, making their first four shots, to stretch their edge to 29-21. The Warriors responded by scoring six of the next 10 points to pull back with six at 33-27. It was back and forth the rest of the third quarter as the Warriors closed their gap to 41-36.
- The Warriors began the fourth quarter on a 7-1 spurt to regain the lead at 42-41 with 7:25 to go. Over the next four-plus minutes the teams traded blows as ESU and Kutztown each scored eight points to make the score 51-50 in favor of the Warriors with 48 seconds on the clock. ESU was able to withstand a flurry of attempts from the Golden Bears and Courter converted a pair of free throws to seal the 53-50 victory.
Up Next
The Warriors return to Koehler Fieldhouse for the final time during the regular season as ESU battles Shepherd at 1 p.m. Prior to the game, the Warriors will honor a trio of seniors in
Claire Courter,
Shyla Sanford and
Ryan Weise.
