BOX SCORE

WEST CHESTER—In a battle of the top two teams in the PSAC (Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference) Eastern Division, Bloomsburg University won the Eastern Division title outright with a 68-47 victory over West Chester on Saturday afternoon. The win gives the Huskies, who had already clinched the top spot in the PSAC East after its win last Wednesday, a record of 13-1 in conference play. Bloomsburg, 21-5 overall, will host Kutztown on Tuesday night at 7 p.m. in a PSAC quarterfinal game at the Nelson Field House.

The Huskies started slowly in the game falling behind 4-0 before scoring their first points three and minutes into play on a basket by Danielle Derr (Dresner/Upper Dublin). The bucket would the start of a 10-2 run for the Huskies with Kayla Oxenrider (Ashland/Tri-Valley) and Kelsey Gallagher (East Stroudsburg/East Stroudsburg South) both draining three-pointers for coach Bill Cleary's team.

After West Chester tied the score at 10-10, Bloomsburg went on a 9-4 run to take a 19-14 lead with 5:03 left in the half. Dana Wieller (Bethlehem/Liberty) scored five for the Huskies with Gallagher getting the other four.

The Golden Rams came back with a 6-0 run to regain the lead 20-19. But the Huskies went back on top 24-20 on a basket by Lauren Ellis (Bangor/Bangor) and three free throws from Oxenrider with just under a minute left in the half. West Chester though closed out the final 53 seconds on a 3-0 run leaving the Huskies with just a one-point halftime lead.

In the opening minutes of the second half the Golden Rams tied the game at 28-28 on a layup from Alex Lennon, the fifth tie of the game. But from that point forward the Huskies grabbed control of the game using a 23-5 run and never looked back.

Wieller drained three, three-pointers over the eight minute explosion for the Huskies, while Ellis added five points for the Huskies who took a commanding 51-33 lead with 8:35 left in the game.

West Chester cut the lead back to 51-39 by scoring six straight points, but the Huskies countered with an Oxenrider three-pointer and layup and another three by Wieller to put Bloomsburg up 59-39. In the closing minute of the game the Huskies took its biggest lead of the game, 24 points, when Sydney Mallory (Philadelphia/Prep Charter) hit two free throws giving Bloomsburg a 66-42 lead. The Golden Rams hit a late three-pointer to make the final margin of victory for the Huskies 21 points.

Wieller finished with a game-high 20 points for the Huskies who have won 11 straight games, the team's longest winning streak since 1996-97 (also 11 games). In addition, Oxenrider scored 14 points and Gallagher 12 for the Huskies. West Chester, now 20-6, 11-3 in the PSAC East, got 11 points from both Lennon and Megan Stewart.