Valley Forge Sinks Brandywine At The Buzzer

MEDIA, Pa. -- Carlee Conrad buried a three-pointer with 0.8 seconds remaining in regulation to send the University of Valley Forge to a 64-61 victory over the Penn State Brandywine women's basketball team, putting an end to the Lions' 11-game winning streak on Tuesday night.

Conrad's triple came 12 seconds after Nikki Velez (Gloucester, N.J./Gloucester City) had tied the score at 61-61 by sinking three free throws.

Brandwine held the lead for nearly the entire game before Bailey Mayforth connected on back-to-back three-pointers to hand the Patriots a 59-56 edge with 2:04 to play. Velez answered with a jumper at the 1:29 mark, but 52 seconds later, Jhanel Brown pushed the lead back to three points for the Patriots with a layup.

On the Lions ensuing possession, Chelsea Dent (Yeadon, Pa./Penn Wood) grabbed an offensive board and found Velez, who was fouled shooting a three with 13.2 seconds to play. Velez calmly sank all three shots prior to Conrad's game-winner.

Brandywine trailed 8-4 early, but took over with a 15-0 surge midway through the first quarter. Dent tied the score with a layup and Kendra Stanford (Philadelphia, Pa./William Bodine) and Velez both followed with a pair of free throws as the Lions built a four-point edge. Velez added a basket, while Madison D'Ambrosio (Springfield, Pa./Springfield) capped the surge by netting a pair of buckets.

The Lions' lead reached 15 points when Brandi James (Glenolden, Pa./Interboro) sank two free throws with 5:23 to play in the first half, but the Patriots answered with a 10-2 run to close out the stanza and trailed by just seven at the break.

Valley Forge continued to chip away at the deficit in the third quarter, closing within three on two occasions. A Velez triple to open the fourth quarter extended the Lions' advantage back to seven; however, Conrad's first triple of the game jump-started an 11-2 surge by the visitors, which was capped off by Mayforth's pair of threes.

Velez paced all scorers with 22 points on 7-of-15 shooting, while Stanford registered 12 points and James added 10. Velez also tallied four steals and Stanford recorded three thefts.

Dent pulled down a team-high nine rebounds and dished out five assists, while also scoring eight points and James hauled in eight boards.

Brandywine shot 35 percent from the field and held a 41-36 edge on the glass, while the Patriots connected on 44 percent of their shots and nailed seven three-pointers.

Brandywine (14-5, 7-1 PSUAC) returns to conference play Friday at home against Penn State Fayette (6:00 pm).