Brandywine Falls In PSUAC Semifinals

MEDIA, Pennsylvania -- Penn State Brandywine led by 17 points with 17 minutes to play, but Penn State Hazleton rallied for a 65-59 victory Sunday afternoon in the PSUAC Women's Basketball Tournament semifinals.

Hazleton advanced to Tuesday's championship game in State College, while Brandywine closed out its season with a record of 18-8.

Neither team led by more than five points through the first 12 minutes of play.

Stacey MacArthur (Newtown Square, Pa./Delco Christian) started an a 8-0 Brandywine spurt spanning nearly four minutes with a pair of free throws at the 8:30 mark. Alyssa Abbonizio (Springfield, Pa./Springfield) and Melanie Kempf (Oxford, Pa./Oxford) capped the run with back-to-back layups as Brandywine built a 27-19 lead.

Brandywine continued to extend its lead as Kempf sank a pair of baskets and MacArthur pushed the edge to 16 points at halftime with a jumper.

The Lions established their largest lead of the game at 43-26 following a lay in by Olivia Encarnacion (Glenolden, Pa./Interboro), but Hazleton steadily chipped away.

With 11:46 to play, Stephanie Guevara's layup cut the Brandywine lead to single digits for the first time since the first half. Six minutes later, Taylor Cannon converted a layup, slicing the deficit to just six.

Hazleton pulled within three at the 3:57 mark, but Myeisha Matos' (Philadelphia, Pa./JW Hallahan Catholic) answered with a jumper to extend the lead back to five.

Two Guevara free throws and a Cannon layup made the score a one-point difference with three minutes to play and Guevara's bucket at the 1:02 mark gave Hazleton its first lead since the opening stages of the contest.

After a missed shot by Brandywine, Guavara sank a pair of free throws, making the score 63-59. Brandywine was unable to connect on its final three attempts from the field and Guevara drained to more free throws with six seconds left to provide the final margin.

Kempf poured in a career-high 16 points on 8-of-12 shooting to pace Brandywine, while Encarnacion also reached double figures with 11 points.

Lauren Munro (Glenolden, Pa./Interboro) grabbed 10 boards, while Abbonizio pulled down eight rebounds and netted six points. Cashae Hinton (Norristown, Pa./Norristown) dished out eight assists.

Cannon led all scorers with 22 points and snagged 12 boards, while Alexis Daly added 15 points and 12 rebounds.

Brandywine shot 31 percent from the field, but made just 22 percent of its shots in the second half, and held a 43-41 edge on the boards. Hazleton connected on 60 percent of its second-half field goals and shot 47 percent overall.