BLOOMSBURG, Pa. – The Bloomsburg women's basketball team dropped a home conference game at Nelson Field House Wednesday, 67-45, against West Chester.

No player from the Huskies finished the night in double figures, with the team led by Maddie LaFrance (Harrisburg, Pa./Central Dauphin) with nine. Leah Kale (Spring Grove, Pa./Spring Grove) was second on the squad in points (8) while collecting four rebounds and two steals. Katie Starr (Berwick, Pa./Berwick) failed to reach 10 or more points for the first time in 21 games, snapping a streak that extended into last season. The forward made her presence felt on the defensive end, grabbing a career-high six steals with a block and four rebounds.   

Bloomsburg falls to 4-16 on the season with a 2-12 mark in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC). The Golden Rams Rams improve to 15-5 overall, moving to 10-4 against conference foes.

How It Happened: 
The contest started hectic as West Chester's opening possession led to multiple offensive rebounds before Starr recorded her first steal of the game. Both sides failed to knock down a shot in the opening two minutes, with both teams continuing to turn the ball over. The Golden Rams jumped out to an early 7-3 lead after the first five minutes, with a Kale triple sitting as the only points thus far for the Huskies. 

West Chester expanded its lead to double digits with under two minutes to play before LaFrance hit her first three in the contest to stop Bloomsburg's scoring drought. The Golden Rams led by as much as 12 in the opening quarter before Alison Hatajik (Duncansville, Pa./Hollidaysburg) scooped in a layup to make it an 18-8 game after the first quarter. The Huskies' offensive struggles continued to hamper their early-game momentum, as the team shot just 3-of-11 (27.3 percent) from the field and 2-of-9 (22.2 percent) from behind the arc.

Bloomsburg opened the quarter with a splash as Lauren Kirsch (Palmyra, Pa./Lower Dauphin) swished a triple on the Huskies' first possession of the second quarter. That make was the only basket of the quarter up until the 7:37 mark when West Chester recorded their first points off a layup. The action began to pick up with the teams first exchanging free throws that quickly transitioned into threes, with LaFrance bringing her nightly total to six as a bucket from Starr cut the Golden Rams' lead to 25-19. West Chester churned out a 12-0 run to take a sizable 27-19 advantage late in the first half. A three from Ava Stevenson (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Trinity) cut off the run as the Huskies entered halftime trailing 40-22. 

The stretches of cold shooting continued for both teams as the opening second half opened scoreless after two minutes. The Golden Rams extended their edge past the 20-point threshold before LaFrance's third three-point make of the night. Kale found her scoring touch in the third, scoring five consecutive points for Bloomsburg in the third. Ella Kale (Spring Grove, Pa./Spring Grove) and Hailey Hudak (Schwenksville, Pa./Spring Ford) combined for four points as West Chester closed out the third on a 7-0 run to take a 57-34 lead into the final 10 minutes of regulation. 

The Huskies started another quarter with a three, this time with Stevenson hitting a triple to kick off the fourth quarter. Starr scored her final points of the night to get Bloomsburg back below a 20-point deficit before the Golden Rams responded with an 8-0 run spanning into the final three minutes of the game. Emma Spindler (Wallkill, N.Y./Wallkill Senior) and Nickole Schmidt (Montgomery, N.Y./Valley Central) combined for the Huskies' final six points of the evening in the game's closing moments, with Spindler grabbing a steal on the defensive end.

On the Horizon:
The Huskies are on the road this Saturday, February 3, at 1:00 p.m. against the Shippensburg Raiders.