Lady Warriors Split Season Series with Wilkes
Shooting, Defense a Little Short for Lycoming
Box score

WILKES-BARRE , Pa. --- In an attempt to sweep the season series from host Wilkes University, the Lycoming women’s basketball team ran into a tough shooting and defending night as the Colonels earned a split of the two Freedom Conference showdowns with a 62-53 victory on Wednesday evening.  Wilkes improves to 6-14 overall, 2-7 in the league while the Lady Warriors drop to 4-14, 1-8.

Down only three coming out of halftime following a sloppy first 20 minutes of play that saw the two foes combine for 19 total turnovers, the Warriors made only 8-of-26 shots in the second frame compared to a 14-for-30 showing by the Colonels.  The Warrior defense also seemed to be a bit out of sorts at times, resulting in several easy lay-ups for the Colonel guards.

Lycoming persevered throughout the contest, putting together several small scoring runs.  But Wilkes proved equal to the task in coolly deflating any stockpile of momentum the Warriors seemed to build.

Lady Warrior senior Danielle Kern (Lehman, Pa./Lake-Lehman) put together a double-double performance 17 points and 10 rebounds, both game highs.  Eight of her rebounds were on the offensive end.  Also in double figures for Lycoming were senior Amy Kile (Muncy, Pa./Muncy) with 11 points and freshman Lauren Carey (Old Forge, Pa./Old Forge) with a personal season-best 10 points.

Guard Rena Bolin, who missed the first contest in Williamsport , led Wilkes with 16 points to go along with five boards, five assists, and three steals.  Center Karyn Perestam chipped in 10 points to the effort while forward Lacey Andresen grabbed seven rebounds.

Wilkes jumped out to an early 4-0 lead thanks to easy buckets from Bolin and Kelly Patchell.  Lycoming came storming back with nine unanswered points, five coming from Kile.

The Colonels’ letdown last only a few minutes as Randi Corbo drew them even at 9-9 with a trey at the 13:32 mark.

Turnovers slowed the scoring pace to a crawl over the next several minutes.  Traveling calls and ill-fated passes netted only eight total points between the two squads when Lycoming used its first timeout with 7:58 to go and the score tied 13-13.

Freshman Andrea Cooper (Hollidaysburg, Pa./Hollidaysburg) broke Lycoming’s 4:15 scoreless string to put the Warriors down 16-15 with just under 4:30 left in the half.  Corbo quickly extended the Colonels’ advantage to four with an old-fashioned three-point play following an impressive driving lay-up and the ensuing foul shot.

An off-balance jumper by sophomore Michelle Wisla (Schwenksville, Pa./Perkiomen Valley) and an offensive rebound by Kern helped the Warriors draw even at 2:09 following backdoor lay-up from Kile.  But Wilkes once again responded with the hoop-and-harm from Perestam and a lay-up from Tristin Tkach to move out to a 24-19 lead with 1:23 left before the intermission.

Senior Stacy Lindeman (Whitehall, Pa./Whitehall) and Perestam traded buckets before Kile closed the half’s scoring on another lay-in with Lycoming going into the locker room down 26-23.

Wilkes jumped out with six easy points on a pair of jumpers by Andrea Kacprowicz and a lay-up off a steal Corbo to take a 32-24 lead with 18:35 on the clock.  Steals by Bolin and Tiana Lee led to an Andresen jumper and a pair of Bolin charity tosses to give the Colonels a 10-point lead at 38-28 at the 14:33 mark.

The Warriors pared the lead down to seven following a jumper by Carey and a split pair of free throws by Kern, but Wilkes reclaimed its double-digit edge with an off-balance lay-up by Lee and the front toss of a two free throws by Perestam.

Following a pair of free throws by Perestam that increased the Colonels’ lead to 14 at 47-34, lay-ups by Cooper and Carey brought the Warriors to back within nine at 47-38 with 8:30 to play.  But Wilkes came up with a big three-pointer from Holly Leszyk to stifle the Warriors run with 8:05 to play.  A jumper from Patchell gave Wilkes a 13-point advantage, forcing Lycoming into a 30-second timeout.

After Wilkes added another bucket to extend to a 15-point advantage, Carey tried to start a Warrior comeback by cashing out four consecutive free throws.  Kern notched the next four points for Lycoming on a lay-up and a pair of free throws in trade with a pair of Colonel scores to keep Wilkes’ within striking distance going into a timeout down 58-47 with 2:31 remaining.

Kerned added four more points following the timeout to bring Lycoming within nine at 60-51 with 45.7 second left.  Bolin made pair of free throws and freshman Marissa Hastings (Old Forge, Pa./Old Forge) hit a jumper to cap the game’s scoring.