By George Fladeland

   The Golden Bears went into Millersville University riding high on a three game winning streak. They were able to defeat the Marauders 58-54 in a hard fought PSAC battle. Going into the game KU was tied for fourth place with East Stroudsburg and Millersville in the PSAC East standings. After the ESU loss to Bloomsburg, and KU’s win against Millersville, the Golden Bears were able to take sole possession of fourth place.

The PSAC East clash was a very close game. The largest lead was seven points, set by KU, with 7:57 to play in the first half. Kutztown kept the lead for the majority of the game by playing team defense. They forced 14 turnovers that led to 15 points for KU. Eight of the 14 turnovers were steals. KU wasn’t able to utilize the post like the Marauders because Advia Campbell was in foul trouble.

After scoring a career high of 16 points against West Chester last week, Brianna Morales dropped 15 against Millersville for a game high. Morales also passed out 3 assists and picked up two steals. Morales played every minute of the game and led the team to a big win.

Kelsey Watson and Natalya Lee combined for 23 points and were perfect from the free throw line. Watson and Lee went 9-9, but as a team KU shot 73.3 percent from the charity stripe.

Advia Campbell and Alyssa Bonenberger weren’t factors for the Golden Bears because they were both in foul trouble. Campbell fouled out with three points, one assist, two blocks and two steals. Bonenberger with three fouls couldn’t get it to go offensively either. Scoring two points, giving out one assist and picking up one steal was not her best game statistically.

From the bench, Nicole Donahue and Elisa Gaffney teamed up for 15 points, and provided quality game time for coach Malouf. KU will travel to Lock Haven on Wednesday February 11 at 5:30 p.m.

The PSAC playoffs include only the top six teams from each division, and if KU wants to punch their ticket for the post-season play they will need to keep coming up with victories like they did Saturday night.