Bloomsburg Falls in Women's Basketball

BLOOMSBURG—The Bloomsburg University women's basketball team lost to West Chester, 67-62, in PSAC Eastern Division action Wednesday night at the Nelson Field House.

With the loss, the Huskies fall to 9-7, 3-2 in the PSAC East. West Chester improves to 14-7, and leads the PSAC East with a record of 6-0.

The Golden Rams took early control of the game opening a nine-point lead in the first five minutes of action, 14-5 with Justine Pfaff having the hot hand with seven points. West Chester later stretched its lead to 14 points, 34-20, after a layup from Dominique Lewis with 7:33 left in the first half.

The Huskies then mounted a comeback with some strong defense and some timely shooting. Defensively, the Huskies held West Chester to just three points over the final 7:33 of the half, while offensively, the outside shots started to fall.

Jamie Kauczka (Kingston/Wyoming Valley West) started the rally with back-to-back baskets followed by a three-point play from Tiff Metzler (Mechanicsburg/Mechanicsburg). After a couple of free throws from West Chester, Kelly Burkhart (Sayre/Athens) drained back-to-back three pointers and Michelle Albanese (Wilmington, DE/St. Mark's) added one of her own to give the Huskies a 38-36 lead with 2:06 left in the half. Bloomsburg would go into the locker room with a two-point edge, 39-37.

In the second half the Golden Rams rallied and regained the lead, 45-44, on a jumper by Pfaff with 12:48 to go in the game. The Huskies would tie the score at 49 with 8:29 to play on a layup from Kauczka. But, West Chester quickly regained the lead at 51-49 on a jumper from Keisha Mack. Later, two Kim Dodson (Sugarloaf/Hazleton) free throws would tie the score for the final time at 56-all with 5:21 to play.

The Golden Rams took the lead for good at 59-56 when Mack hit an off-balance three-pointer off the glass with 5:02 to play. Then, with 3:06 to play, the Huskies closed back to within a point, 61-60, after a pair of free throws from Dana Thompson (Pocono Lake/Allentown, NJ).

But in the final three minutes the Huskies turned the ball over three times leading with two of the turnovers leading to West Chester points. The Golden Rams sealed the win when Malinda Fife hit one of two free throws for a seven point lead with eight seconds remaining.

Bloomsburg was led by 19 points from Albanese, while Kauczka added 10 points and 11 rebounds.

West Chester was led by Pfaff's game-high 19 points, while Mack added 15 and Dominique Lewis 11.

The Huskies visit Millersville on Saturday at 1 p.m.