Brandywine Defense Locks Down Wilkes-Barre In 25-Point Victory

WILKES-BARRE, Pa. -- Penn State Brandywine forced 25 turnovers and held its opponent below 50 points for the first time this season as the Lions' women's basketball team coasted to a 68-43 victory at Penn State Wilkes-Barre on Wednesday night.

Brandywine (5-4, 3-0 PSUAC), which has won four games in a row and five of its last six, poured in 27 points off Wilkes-Barre turnovers. Brandywine also hit the boards, scoring 26 second-chance points following 17 offensive rebounds. The Lions outrebounded Wilkes-Barre 44-31 overall.

Wilkes-Barre managed just 20 first-half points as Brandywine built a six-point halftime lead behind 11 points from Nikki Velez (Gloucester, N.J./Gloucester City).

The Lions pulled away in the third quarter outscoring Wilkes-Barre 23-5. A Wilkes-Barre layup at the 6:06 mark made the score 35-25, but Brandywine held the hosts scoreless for the rest of the quarter, while netting the final 14 points of the stanza. Six different players contributed a basket during the Lions' run after Brandi James (Glenolden, Pa./Interboro) netted eight of Brandywine's first 11 points to begin the third quarter.

James made nine of her 10 free throw attempts and led all scorers with 15 points. She also grabbed six rebounds, while Velez tallied 14 points, five rebounds, four steals and three assists.

Madison D'Ambrosio (Springfield, Pa./Springfield) collected 12 points and three steals and Ally Giannakarios (Brookhaven, Pa./Sun Valley) contributed six points and a team-best seven rebounds.

Brandywine looks for its fifth-straight win Friday night when it visits Penn State Scranton for a 6:00 pm game.