Box Score
LADY COLONELS CLIMB OVER PSU HARRISBURG 87-79
WILKES-BARRE – The Wilkes University women's basketball team utilized four double-digit scorers to beat the PSU Harrisburg Lady Lions 87-79 in non-conference action Monday night at the Marts Center.
With the win, Wilkes improves to 8-4 while PSU Harrisburg falls to 8-4.
After a Lion layup to open up the game, senior guard Megan Kazmerski (Kingston, PA/Holy Redeemer) hit the first three pointer she took to give the Lady Colonels a one point lead and herself the 1,000th point of her career.
From there, Stambone hit three consecutive jumpers before giving way to Ellen Rich (Hamden, CT/Hamden Hall) for a layup of her own. Angela Palmerio (Telford, PA/Lansdale Catholic) scored on a layup in transition and laced a trey on her next touch to give the Lady Colonels a 16-10 advantage. After a pair of jumpers from Jana Martin (Lititz, PA/Manheim Central) and Ginny Edwards (Warrington, PA/Central Bucks South), Kazmerski connected on a jumper that gave Wilkes a three point lead, 22-19. An Ellen pass to Cara Basile (Whitehall, PA/Whitehall), followed by another jumper for Stambone, put Wilkes up 30-25. From there, a Martin layup on a Basile steal as well as four points from Palmerio gave the Lady Colonels a 45-38 lead going into the break.
In the second frame, Rich continued to dominate the paint and hit the first jumper to start the Lady Colonels offense. After Stambone and Kazmerski free throws, the Lions brought it back to within two at the 16:26 mark, 54-52. However, a jumper from Rich and Edwards merged with a Palmerio three pointer gave the Lady Colonels some breathing room at 61-55. A Mercedes Copeland layup brought the game back to within three, but Basile and Chelsea Brown (Garnet Valley, PA/Garnet Valley) layups gave Wilkes a ten point lead with eleven minutes left in the game. The Lady Colonels hit their free throws down the stretch to ice the game. They also forced 38 turnovers on their way to accumulating 90 total shots.
The leading scorers for PSU Harrisburg were Miranda Zeanchock and Mercedes Copeland with 24 and 21 points respectively. Stephanie Yetter added a game-best eleven rebounds and seven points.
Stambone led the high powered Wilkes offense by dropping 29 points to aid her 19.9 point per-game average. Kazmerski followed with twelve points while Palmerio and Rich contributed twelve and ten points respectively. Edwards had a team-best ten boards while recording nine points.
Just forty-five seconds into the game, Kazmerski's three pointer not only jump-started the Wilkes offense, but earned her a surpassing of the 1,000 point plateau. She is the 10th player in Wilkes women's basketball history to accomplish the feat. While leading her team to victory, she snagged four steals, six rebounds, and shot 7-of-9 from the charity stripe. Kazmerski is second on the team in scoring averaging 12 points per-game while recording a team-best 22 steals on the season.
The Lady Colonels return to action when they travel to Delaware Valley Wednesday for a Freedom Conference doubleheader. The women play at 6:00 p.m. with the men to follow at 8:00 p.m.
