KUTZTOWN, Pa. – The Bloomsburg women's basketball team fell in a nail-biting Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference clash, 54-50, Saturday afternoon on the road at Kutztown.

Maddie LaFrance (Harrisburg, Pa./Central Dauphin) led the scoring efforts for the Huskies, finishing the game with 14 points on 5-of-10 shooting from the floor and going 3-of-6 from behind the arc. Katie Starr (Berwick, Pa./Berwick) concluded her afternoon second on the team in points (12), securing five rebounds, two steals and a block.  

Bloomsburg falls to 7-17 on the year with a 5-13 record in conference action. With the victory, the Golden Bears clinch a home playoff game in the PSAC Tournament, moving to 13-12 overall and 11-8 in the PSAC.

How It Happened: The game from the jump was a competitive, back-and-forth contest from the jump. Scoring was limited in the early goings as Starr and Chase Purdy (Sweet Valley, Pa./Lake Lehman) gave the Huskies a 4-2 lead past the five-minute mark in the first quarter. LaFrance hit her first triple of the night as Kutztown began to work out of a deficit, forcing a 12-12 tie after the first 10 minutes.

The second quarter replicated the same intensity as the first, with both sides unwilling to back down at any point. The Golden Bears jumped out to the first lead of the quarter off free throws before Lauren Kirsch (Palmyra, Pa./Lower Dauphin) answered with a mid-range jumper. The sides exchanged several flurries of baskets, which resulted in the Huskies pulling out to a 23-18 lead with 4:29 left to play in the half. Zara Zerman scored the last seven points of the first half for Kutztown as the home side entered the break up 26-25. 

The mindsets of both teams remained locked in at the start of the third quarter as both teams fought tooth-and-nail for a clear advantage. Several ties and lead changes occurred throughout the quarter. Allison Hatajik forced one of these ties at 41-41 with 1:20 left on the clock in the quarter as a three-point miss for the Huskies turned into a three-point opportunity for Kutztown to grab a 44-41 advantage with 10 minutes left of action.

The Golden Bears jumped out to the largest lead of the afternoon, using a 6-0 run to take a 50-41 advantage with eight minutes to play in the game. Leah Kale (Spring Grove, Pa./Spring Grove) stopped Bloomsburg's scoring drought with a three. Despite locking in on the defensive end, the Huskies struggled to find offensive openings to work their way back into the game, eventually making it a one-possession game at 50-47 with 3:46 remaining. 

Allison Hileman (Hollidaysburg, Pa./Hollidaysburg) again made a three-point contest, with the Huskies trailing 53-50 with 27 seconds on the clock. Hailey Hudak (Schwenksville, Pa./Spring Ford) forced a steal off a trap from the Kutztown inbound, giving Bloomsburg an attempt to tie the game. The Huskies found a look off the inbound to LaFrance, but her attempt, with seconds remaining on the clock, was blocked, stunting any further chances at completing the comeback. 

On the Horizon:
The Huskies remain on the road with another pivotal conference clash on Wednesday, February 21, at 5:30 p.m. against East Stroudsburg.