Brandywine Tops Mont Alto; Secures Top-Four Seed In PSUAC Tournament

MONT ALTO, Pa. -- Penn State Brandywine received double-doubles from Chelsea Dent (Yeadon, Pa./Penn Wood) and Brandi James (Glenolden, Pa./Interboro) and forced 32 Penn State Mont Alto turnovers during a 76-64 road victory on Tuesday night.

With the triumph, the Lions (16-5, 9-1 PSUAC) clinched a top-four seed in the Penn State University Athletic Conference Women's Basketball Tournament. The top two seeds will receive byes through to the semifinal round, while seeds No. 3 and No. 4 will host quarterfinal matchups on Wednesday, February 15.

Brandywine, winners for the 13th time in their last 14 games, saw Dent record 17 points, 11 rebounds and four steals, while James netted 11 points and hauled in 14 rebounds. She now has 34 boards in her last two games.

Nikki Velez (Gloucester, N.J./Gloucester City) topped the team in scoring with 19 points and Madison D'Ambrosio (Springfield, Pa./Springfield) chipped in nine points. All five starters registered at least three steals, led by Kendra Stanford's (Philadelphia, Pa./William Bodine) five thefts.

Brandywine trailed 30-28 at the half after Charity Miller buried a three-pointer just before the buzzer and faced a deficit for much of the third stanza, but Velez drained a jumper with 42 seconds to play, vaulting the Lions into the lead.

Brandywine would pull away in the fourth quarter as back-to-back Velez triples and a jumper from Stanford made the score 66-56. Mont Alto got as close as six points during the final minutes, but Velez and Dent combined to make 10 free throws during the final 94 seconds to secure the victory.

Brandywine continues its road trip on Friday night at Penn State Hazleton, which also boasts a 9-1 league record (6:00 pm).