Bloomsburg Women's Basketball Defeated by West Chester

BLOOMSBURG - Kelsey Gallagher (East Stroudsburg/East Stroudsburg South) scored a career-high 26 points, but a buzzer-beating lay-up in overtime by West Chester's Dana Weems lifted the Golden Rams to a 71-70 victory over the Bloomsburg University women's basketball team on Saturday afternoon.

Bloomsburg would race out to a 15-9 lead over the first five minutes of the first half, as Gallagher and Kelly Joyce (Ashland/Cardinal Brennan) connected on three-pointers. West Chester would cut the Bloomsburg lead down to one at the 6:59 mark of the first half, but lay-ups by Colleen Kegerreis (Schuykill Haven/ Schuykill Haven) and Giselle Lara (Toronto, Canada/Jamestown CC) gave the Huskies a 32-23 lead with just under four minutes left in the first half. West Chester would cut the lead down to four, though, as the Huskies held a 33-29 lead at the half.

The Huskies would go on another run over the first six minutes of the second half. Monica Dennison (Zion Grove/Hazleton Area) and Lauren Healy (Glenmoore/Owen J. Roberts) hit consecutive jumpers, extending the Husky lead to 12, 46-34 with just under 14 minutes remaining. From there, West Chester would take over. The Golden Rams went on an 18-4 run over the next 5:10 to take a 52-50 lead with 8:54 remaining.

Trailing by three with just under four minutes remaining, Gallagher hit her third three-pointer of the afternoon to tie the game at 57-all with 3:27 seconds in regulation. After the Huskies took a 59-57 lead on a pair of free throws, Weems connected on a jumper to tie the game back at 59-all with a minute to go. Two Healy free throws gave Bloomsburg a two point advantage, but a foul by Dennision sent WCU's Bridget Carlin to the free throw line, where she would convert both attempts with :20 left in regulation. Bloomsburg was not able to get a shot off in the final 20 seconds, sending the game to overtime.

In the overtime period, West Chester would take a two point lead before Gallagher connected on another three-pointer to give Bloomsburg a 64-63 advantage with 2:33 remaining. A pair of Steph Rankin (Bloomsburg/Bloomsburg) free-throws gave Bloomsburg a 68-65 lead with 1:29 to go, but a lay-up by West Chester's Janelle Garber and a pair of free throws by Carlin retuned the advantage to West Chester, 69-68, with 1:15 left. After a pair of turnovers from both teams, Kegerreis hit a lay-up with four seconds remaining to give the Huskies a 70-69 advantage. It was all for naught, though, as West Chester got the ball into the hands of Weems for the game-winner at the buzzer.

Kegerreis finished with 16 points, while Healy poured in 13 for the Huskies. Garber led West Chester with 14 points.

With the loss, Bloomsburg falls to 8-6, 0-2 in the PSAC Eastern Division.

The Huskies return to action on Wednesday night when they travel to East Stroudsburg. That game will start at 6:00 p.m.