Lions Fall Short At USCAA Tip-Off Tournament

MONACA, Pa. -- Penn State Brandywine fell just short at the USCAA Women's Basketball Tip-Off Tournament as the Lions fell 65-59 against Carlow Saturday evening on the campus of Penn State Beaver.

Cold shooting hurt the Lions early as Brandywine connected on just 1-of-13 field goal attempts during the opening quarter. The Celtics jumped out to a 14-3 lead, but a pair of free throws from Nicolette Napoleon (Springfield, Pa./Penn Charter) made the Lions' deficit nine points after one stanza.

Carlow grew the lead to 12 midway through the second period before Nikki Velez (Gloucester, N.J./Gloucester City) drained two free throws and then knocked down a three-pointer to make the score 21-14. Chelsea Dent's (Yeadon, Pa./Penn Wood) jumper with one minute to play were the final points of the second quarter as the Lions trailed 25-19 at the break.

The Celtics pushed their edge back to double figures, but Brandywine answered with a quick, 8-0 spurt, capped by Madison D'Ambrosio's (Springfield, Pa./Springfield) two free throws, cutting the deficit to two.

After Carlow answered with a basket and added a three-point play by Alexis Yanief, the Lions netted the last six points of the third quarter. Kendra Stanford (Philadelphia, Pa./William Bodine) made a jumper and Chrissy Gledhill (Secane, Pa./Cardinal O'Hara) followed with a bucket and two free throws to make the score 38-37 in favor of Carlow after three quarters.

Brandywine tied the score twice during the early minutes of the fourth quarter, the final time coming on a Stanford jumper at the 8:10 mark; however, Carlow answered with eight of the game's next 10 points, with six coming at the charity stripe, and the Celtics grabbed a six-point advantage.

A triple from Gledhill followed by a basket from Dent helped the Lions pull within two with 2:51 to play, but Carlow held Brandywine off the scoreboard over the next 2:08, while scoring six-straight points to secure control of the game.

D'Ambrosio posted a team-high 12 points and grabbed three rebounds, while Dent and Velez both collected 10 points and five boards. Napoleon pulled down six rebounds, a team-best total.

Brandywine shot 32 percent from the field and drained 19-of-28 free throws. Carlow made 41 percent of its attempts from the field, while receiving 12 points, seven rebounds and three assists from Yanief.

Brandywine (0-2) closes out the USCAA Tip-Off Tournament on Sunday afternoon against The Apprentice School at 1:00 pm.