WILKES-BARRE – Leading by 16 points midway through the third quarter, the Wilkes University women's basketball team was unable to make the advantage hold as visiting Keystone College scored the game-winning basket with six seconds remaining on way to a 66-64 non-conference victory Saturday afternoon at the Marts Center.
 
Wilkes fell to 0-10 overall following the home defeat, while Keystone improved to 6-5 overall on the season.
 
The three-point line proved to be the Colonels upper hand in the first half as Wilkes took a 37-32 lead at the break. Wilkes drilled a season-high seven treys in the first 20 minutes of the game including three triples from Julia Askins. Delaney Bogdan (Long Valley, NJ/Mendham) got into the long ball action canning a three to give the Colonels their largest advantage of the first half up 23-18 with 8:43 left in the second quarter. Another three from Maliyah Warren (Phoenixville, PA/Phoenixville), a shot that banked in from the top of the key, kept Wilkes ahead 26-21 with 5:45 on the first half clock. Keystone responded with back-to-back scores and two free throws over the next four minutes to cut the lead to one at 33-32, but a Madison Olguin (San Antonio, TX/Antonian Prep) bucket and Nadia Evanosky (Dallas, PA/Dallas) layup with four seconds remaining gave the Colonels a five-point cushion at the break.
 
The lead grew to as many as 16 points early in the third quarter as two free throws from Yamirelis Matos (Springfield, MA/Chicopee) and a three-pointer from Emma Stout (Bangor, PA/Bangor) finished off a strong period that saw Wilkes outscore the Giants 15-13. Keystone continued to chip away at the lead using a strong defensive effort and some clutch shooting to pull to within one at 53-52 with 7:29 left in the game. A three-point play by Evanosky and one Warren free throw pushed the Colonel lead back to eight two minutes later, but the visitors were relentless in their pursuit to tie the game as an 8-0 run capped off by two scores from the charity stripe tied the game at 62 with 1:51 left on the clock setting up the final outcome of the contest.
 
Warren scored first for the Colonels putting Wilkes ahead 64-62 with 1:32 on the clock before Keystone tied the game again with a layup in the paint. The teams traded turnovers before Reagan Holden (Wilkes-Barre, PA/Wilkes-Barre Area) would be fouled with :20 remaining. Holden missed both attempts and Keystone rebounded calling a timeout to setup an offensive play. From there the Giants scored on a running layup with six seconds on the clock forcing a Wilkes timeout. The Colonels would never get a shot at the tie as an Evanosky pass was deflected and the clock expired in the process.
 
Matos led all Colonels with a game-high 19 points, six rebounds and two assists. Askins followed with 10 points while Evanosky added seven points, six steals and a team-best 11 rebounds.
 
Anyah Ortiz topped Keystone with a solid effort of 18 points, seven rebounds and eight steals.
 
Wilkes remains idle through the Christmas holiday before returning to non-conference action on Saturday, January 4^th with  a road matchup at Alvernia University scheduled for 1:00 p.m.