Kutztown Edges West Chester Women, 72-70

Box Score

KUTZTOWN, Pa. – Kutztown's Sierra Taylor hit a jumper with 12 seconds left in the game to complete a second-half comeback and lead the Golden Bears to a 72-70 victory over visiting West Chester inside Keystone Arena Wednesday evening.
 
West Chester (8-10, 8-6 PSAC) saw it's three-game winning streak come to a close as Kutztown improves to 7-15 overall and 4-10 in conference play. Porscha Speller (Lancaster, Pa./Lancaster Catholic) missed a 3-point attempt at the buzzer that would have let the Rams escape a lackluster second half.
 
The Golden Rams scored just 17 points in the final 20 minutes, including four in the fourth quarter, as the Golden Bears roared back from a 12-point halftime deficit to pull out an impressive win.
 
Alexis Anderson (Allentown, Pa./Louis E. Dieruff) posted a career-high 25 points in the first half as West Chester ran out to a 53-41 lead at the break. The Rams' 53 points in a half marked a season high while its 30 points in the second quarter tied a season high at Slippery Rock.
 
West Chester made 21 of 36 shots (58.3 pct.) in the first 20 minutes of play. However, the guests made just five buckets the rest of the way, including 1-for-13 (7.7 pct.) in the fourth quarter. Rylee Power (Newtown Square, Pa./Marple-Newtown) scored the Rams' only basket of the final 10 minutes at the 5:33 mark. Speller hit a pair of free throws at the 2:50 mark to tie the game at 70-apiece.
 
Kutztown wasn't much better over the final 10 minutes – shooting 3-for-13 and scoring just 12 points. However, Taylor's jumper with 12 seconds left proved to be enough for the win. West Chester was a combined 5-for-24 from the field after halftime.
 
Speller finished with 14 points and a team-best seven rebounds on the night while Tori Smick (Pilesgrove, N.J./Woodstown) had 10 points and five rebounds.
 
West Chester will look to bounce back on Saturday at home against Mansfield. Tip-off is set for 2 p.m., following alumni basketball games for both the women's and men's programs. The women's alumni game is set for 11 a.m. that morning.