Brandywine Advances To PSUAC Semifinals; Johnson Earns 200th Career Victory

MEDIA, Pa. -- Fueled by a 33-point third quarter, Penn State Brandywine rallied for an 80-77 victory over Penn State Fayette in the Penn State University Athletic Conference Women's Basketball Tournament quarterfinals, giving 11th-year Head Coach Larry Johnson the 200th victory of his career on Wednesday night. Brandywine will make its 11th-straight appearance in the PSUAC semifinals on Saturday.

Johnson now owns a 200-100 career record in 11 seasons at Brandywine. His teams have won at least 18 games on nine occasions, including each of the last four years. Brandywine has reached the PSUAC Tournament semifinals each year during his tenure, winning titles in 2006-07 and 2010-11.

Fourth-seeded Brandywine (19-7) advances to face top-seeded Penn State Lehigh Valley in the semifinals at 5:00 pm on Saturday evening. Penn State York will serve as the host for both the semifinal and championship rounds of the PSUAC Men's and Women's Tournaments this weekend. The women's championship game is slated for 3:00 pm on Sunday.

Nikki Velez (Gloucester, N.J./Gloucester City) spurred the third quarter surge by scoring 16 of her game-high 24 points during the stanza. Brandi James (Glenolden, Pa./Interboro) and Chelsea Dent (Yeadon, Pa./Penn Wood) both produced double-doubles to aid in the victory. Dent tallied 17 points and a career-best 12 rebounds, while James recorded a 15-point, 13-rebound double-double, her second of the year against Fayette.

The Lions' deficit reached 12 points during the first quarter before Madison D'Ambrosio (Springfield, Pa./Springfield) buried a three-pointer and two free throws to bring Brandywine within nine at the end of the stanza. Brandywine closed within four on a James' layup at the 4:37 mark, but Fayette answered with the next four points and Haley Moreland's triple gave the visitors a 36-30 halftime edge.

Brandywine wasted no time rallying in the third quarter. After a Dent layup to start the half, Velez netted Brandywine's next 11 points, helping slice the deficit to 45-43. Dent's bucket at the 6:33 mark tied the game and just under two minutes later, Velez gave Brandywine its first lead at 50-49 with a layup.

Velez followed with a triple, giving her 16 points during the quarter, and both Chrissy Gledhill (Secane, Pa./Cardinal O'Hara) and Nicolette Napoleon (Springfield, Pa./Penn Charter) added trifectas to hand the Lions their largest lead at 63-56 after three quarters.

By holding Brandywine without a basket over the first 7:16 of the fourth quarter, Fayette vaulted back into the lead at 65-64. After James knocked down two free throws, Dent netted the Lions' first bucket of the stanza to push the Lions' lead to three.

Kori Whitehead's three-pointer with 1:44 to play tied the game at 70, but Dent answered 14 seconds later to put Brandywine back in front for good. Dent sank five free throws and James connected on two during the final 1:03 to seal the victory, Brandywine's second in as many seasons against Fayette in the PSUAC quarterfinals.

Brandywine forced 24 Fayette turnovers and knocked down 26 free throws, compared to just 10 for the visitors. The Lions also held a 46-40 edge on the boards and grabbed 19 offensive rebounds.

Fayette received 23 points from Taylor Smith, while Lyndsey Huhn tallied 10 points, 10 rebounds and five assists.