PSU Brandywine halts PSU Hazleton Streak

Friday night in Media, PA Penn State Hazleton and Penn State Brandywine women's basketball teams hooked up in rematch of last years Penn State University Athletic Conference championship and unfortunately for the local Lady Lions, the result was the same.  Brandywine took advantage of a cold start by Hazleton and thwarted every offensive surge thrown at them to hold on for an 11 point 80-69 victory in PSUAC play.  Hazleton had a nice two game winning streak snapped and now falls to 8-9 overall on the season and 5-5 in conference play.  Brandywine won its 11th consecutive game and is now 17-5 overall, and owns an 11-0 conference record.

Hazleton was led by it's big three, Mckenzie Prutsman, Kendra Pfeil and Shelby Berger. Prutsman led all scorers with points, Pfeil dropped in another 19 points and Berger added another 17 points and grabbed 15 rebounds.  Unfortunately for Hazleton, Brandywine not only matched the three double digit scorers, but added another two.  Nikki Velez pumped in 20 points, Crystal Miller added 13 points and 11 rebounds while Madison D'Ambrosio scored 12 points and pulled down a whopping 15 rebounds.  Kendra Stanford and Chrissy Gledhill hit for 10 points each to spread the double digit scoring around for Brandywine. 

Kendra Pfeil would hit a layup at the 9:02 mark and that would be the end of Hazleton scoring for almost the next five minutes.  They would not score again in the quarter until  Pfeil hit her second layup of the game at the 5:37 mark in the quarter.  Nikki Velez and Kendra   to score all 10 points during a game-opening 10-2 run for Brandywine. During three consecutive possessions, Crystal Miller grabbed an offensive rebound and sank a putback layup as the lead moved to 11 points; however, Hazleton closed the first quarter with six consecutive points, five coming from a Shelby Berger field goal and a trey to narrow the deficit to 20-13 through 10 minutes.

Less than three minutes into the second period, Brandywine's lead reached 13 points. Hazleton pulled as close as eight, but four-straight points from Brandywine extended the margin to 15 points. Two Hazleton free throws made the count 41-28 at the break. Brandywine maintained its 15-point edge until late in the third quarter when Hazleton put together a 12-1 run, holding the Lions without a field goal during the final 4:25, to get within four points with 10 minutes to play.

A Kendra Pfeil layup two minutes into the final stanza brought the score to 61-59, but Hazleton would not get any closer. D'Ambrosio and Gledhill countered with back-to-back buckets and 90 seconds later, Velez sank a layup and added a free throw after being fouled to up the lead to 68-61. Gledhill knocked down a pair of jumpers and Velez shot 4-4 from the free throw line during the final two-and-a-half minutes to secure Brandywine's 11th-straight win.

The local Lady Lions continue their road schedule again tomorrow, traveling to Stabler Arena on the campus of Lehigh University to take the Lions of Penn State Lehigh Valley. Tip off the this PSUAC game is scheduled for 5:00 PM.