Bloomsburg Downs East Stroudsburg in Women's Basketball

Game Stats, Play by Play

EAST STROUDSURG —Jamie Kauczka (Kingston/Wyoming Valley West) scored a team-high 16 points to lead Bloomsburg University to a 71-62 win over East Stroudsburg in women's basketball action Saturday afternoon.

In the opening 12 minutes of the game the two teams traded leads five times and were tied four others before the Warriors were able to get a four-point lead, 21-17, with 7:12 to play. Then, later, with the home team up 26-22 at the 3:49 mark, the Huskies closed out the half with a 12-0 run to lead 34-26 at the break. Freshman Brittany McLean (Emporium/Cameron County) caught fire for Bloomsburg scoring the final seven points of the half.

Bloomsburg started the second half with two free throws from Michelle Albanese (Wilmington, DE/St, Mark's) and a bucket by Steph Weikel (Coal Township/Lourdes Regional) to make it a 16-0 run over a nearly six minute stretch of play. The Warriors' Nikki Cox finally broke the run with a layup and a free throw with 18 minutes left to play to make it 38-29 in favor of the Huskies.

The Huskies then put together a 10-0 to stretch their advantage to 48-29 with 12:54 left in the game. Jen Berta (Lancaster/Lancaster Catholic) started the rally with a layup, while Albanese hit back-to-back shots before Kauczka scored four straight to give Bloomsburg the 19-point edge.

The Warriors cut into the lead with a 14-4 run of their own, led by seven points from Mary Ellen Onofre, to make it 52-43 with 8:57 left in the game. Cox then scored five straight points to trim the deficit to 54-50 with 6:38 left. Later, with the score 61-57 in favor of Bloomsburg, Kauczka hit a short jumper and Dominique Deveaux (Coatesville/Coatesville) made a free throw and a jumper and Berta made a layup for a 68-58 lead with 48 seconds left which put the game out of reach.

Kauczka finished with 16 points and seven rebounds, while Berta added 13 points and 11 rebounds for her first career double-double for Bloomsburg. Deveaux added 12 points for the Huskies, now 12-12, 5-4 in the PSAC East.

East Stroudsburg was led in scoring by Cox with a game-high 25 points, while Onofre added 14 for the Warriors, now 5-17, 2-6 in the PSAC East.

Bloomsburg will play at Mansfield on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m.