KUTZTOWN – For the second straight season, the East Stroudsburg University women's basketball team is back in the PSAC Tournament as the Warriors secured their berth with a 51-42 victory at Kutztown in a PSAC East game on Wednesday night inside Keystone Arena.
ESU heads into Saturday's regular season finale 9-17 overall and 7-14 in the conference while the Golden Bears dropped to 13-14 on the year and 11-10 in the league. The Warriors currently hold the No. 6 seed in the PSAC East while the Kutztown sits at the No. 3 seed with one game remaining.
In 28 minutes off the bench,
Gwenn Sabato supplied the offense as the senior poured in a career-high 19 points, which included a personal 8-0 run in the fourth quarter, on 7-for-13 shooting and 4-for-9 beyond the arc. The Rye Brook, N.Y. native added five rebounds, three steals and an assist.
Notables
- Juniors Emily Chmiel (one steal) and Izzy Vogel (one block) had nearly identical stat lines as the duo each recorded eight points, seven rebounds and an assist
- Junior Corrin Gill did a little bit of everything with five points, five assists, four steals and a pair of rebounds
- Making her first start since January 13, junior Cassidy Saylor added four points, seven rebounds and two assists
- Freshman Lacie Kringe (one assist) and senior Carley Adams (four rebounds) each scored three points
- Olivia Smelas led Kutztown with 16 points, six rebounds and one block while Shannon Remolde added eight points, six rebounds, three assists two steals and a block. Leila Hurley totaled seven points, seven rebounds, three steals and one block.
- The Warriors finished 17-for-15 (37.8%) from the field and 6-for-13 (46.2%) from long distance while the Golden Bears shot a season-low 15-for-63 (23.8%) overall and 3-for-25 (12.0%) from three-point territory
- At the free throw line, ESU shot 11-for-16 (68.8%) and Kutztown went 9-for-14 (64.3%)
- Rebounding numbers were the same at 39 a piece but the Golden Bears had the edge in offensive boards (14-4), points off turnovers (14-9), points in the paint (22-18) and second chance points (11-0)
- The bench provided the spark for ESU as Sabato's 19 points helped the Warriors outscore Kutztown 30-12
How It Happened
- ESU and Kutztown went back and forth to start the first quarter until a driving layup from Vogel gave the Warriors an 8-6 lead headed into the media timeout. The Golden Bears tied the game at 8-8 out of the break, but Adams knocked down a free throw to put ESU ahead 9-8 at the end of the period.
- Kutztown grabbed an 11-9 advantage to begin the second quarter, but the Warriors responded with a 5-1 run over the next four minutes to regain a 14-12 edge. With 3:08 remaining in the half, ESU caught fire with an 8-2 spurt, which included back-to-back three pointers from Sabato, to go ahead 22-14. Out of a Kutztown timeout, the Golden Bears scored six of the final eight points to trim their deficit to 24-20 at the break.
- At the start of the second half, the Golden Bears pulled within two points at 26-24, but ESU answered with a 5-0 run to push their lead back to 31-24. Following the media stoppage, Kutztown scored the last five points of the third quarter to find themselves trailing 31-29.
- Kutztown tied it up 31-31 at the start of the fourth quarter but Sabato responded with a personal 8-0 spurt to give ESU a 39-31 lead. A Golden Bears layup stopped the run briefly as the Warriors scored six straight points to increase their edge to 45-33. However, Kutztown wouldn't go down without a fight following a timeout as the Golden Bears got as close as 45-39 and 47-42 until free throws iced the game for ESU.
Up Next
ESU concludes the regular season on Saturday as the Warriors host Mansfield for a 1 p.m. tip off inside Koehler Fieldhouse. Prior to the game, ESU will honors seniors
Carley Adams,
Leah Pishock,
Gwenn Sabato and team manager Sebastian.
