Brandywine Finishes Off Season Sweep Of Wilkes-Barre

MEDIA, Pa. -- Nikki Velez (Gloucester, N.J./Gloucester City) poured in 26 points, one off her career high, as the Penn State Brandywine women's basketball team completed a season sweep of Penn State Wilkes-Barre with an 81-54 victory on Tuesday night.

Velez set a career high with eight three-pointers, two shy of the Brandywine single-game record, and the most in a game by a Lion since all-time leading scorer Dana Johnson sank eight in 2004. Overall, she shot 9-of-13 from the field overall, needing just 23 minutes of action to score her season-high point total.

Brandi James (Glenolden, Pa./Interboro) netted 18 points, bringing her within 32 points of 1,000 for her career, and pulled down six rebounds. Ginamarie McNamee (Aston, Pa./Interboro), Nicolette Napoleon (Springfield, Pa./Penn Charter) and Hope Coacher (Ardmore, Pa./Haverford) all added eight points for the Lions, who put 10 players in the scoring column. Napoleon tacked on eight rebounds and eight assists, while McNamee and Coacher both grabbed four boards.

Velez knocked down a three-pointer, James added two baskets and five players scored overall during Brandywine's game-opening 16-0 run.

Brandywine continued to front run in the second quarter, moving the lead to 25-5 following a fast-break layup McNamee. Velez tacked on two more triples before Coacher sank a layup to up the margin to 29 points at 44-15. Wilkes-Barre used an 11-0 run spanning the final 2:47 of the second quarter to get within 18 at the break.

Three seconds into the second half, Velez canned her first of four third-quarter triples and McNamee followed 15 seconds later with a layup off a feed from Velez to push the lead back to 20 points. Two minutes later, James' three-point play and two three-pointers from Velez produced a 9-2 run that swelled the margin to 61-34. The duo combined for 24 of Brandywine's 26 points during the third period as the Lions opened up a 70-47 edge and coasted to the victory.

Brandywine shot 46 percent from the field and drained 10 three-pointers, while Wilkes-Barre received a game-high 27 points from Giana Skaff. The Lions recorded an assist on 25 of their 34 baskets and outrebounded Wilkes-Barre 54-29.

Brandywine (10-6, 7-1 PSUAC) is idle for eight days before a visit from Penn State Scranton on Jan. 23 for a 6:00 pm game.