Beaver Deals Brandywine 65-59 Setback

MEDIA, Pa. -- A three-pointer by Penn State Beaver's Alexis Cross with 35 seconds to play put the visitors ahead for good as Beaver downed the Penn State Brandywine women's basketball team 65-59 on Saturday afternoon.

A deflected pass fell right into the hands of Cross, who knocked down her fourth triple of the game 32 seconds after Madison D'Ambrosio (Springfield, Pa./Springfield) had knotted the score at 59-59 with a three-pointer of her own. After a Brandywine turnover, Diamond Thomas added to the lead, making one-of-two free throws and Cross tacked on one more with three seconds left to account for the final margin.

Brandywine found itself trailing by as many as eight points midway through the fourth quarter, but rallied to tie the game four minutes later. D'Ambrosio knocked down a trifecta to cut into the deficit and Nikki Velez (Gloucester, N.J./Gloucester City) followed with a three-point play to get Brandywine back within one with 3:12 to play. After a layup from Thomas upped the Beaver edge to 59-56, D'Ambrosio answered with her game-tying triple.

D'Ambrosio led the Lions in scoring with 16 points, while Brandi James (Glenolden, Pa./Interboro) collected her fifth double-double of the season with 14 points and 14 rebounds. Velez added 10 points and three steals, while Madison Michael (Brookhaven, Pa./Sun Valley) recorded nine points and four boards.

Brandywine played front runner during the opening half, leading 13-5 after four minutes. Beaver narrowed the margin to 19-14 after one quarter and later drew within one, but Michael sank two of her five second-quarter free throws with 23 seconds left to up the advantage to 28-24 at the break.

Beaver took its first lead on Emily Keener's triple with four minutes to go in the third and the lead swelled to seven following Thomas' layup with 2:19 on the clock. Brandywine answered with the final eight points of the stanza, using D'Ambrosio's free throw to go in front 44-43 after 30 minutes.

The visitors countered with seven-straight points and moved the lead to eight with six minutes to play before Brandywine's late rally fell just short.

Brandywine shot 30 percent from the field and was held to 4-of-21 shooting from beyond the arc. Beaver held a 51-46 edge on the boards.

Brandywine (12-7, 9-2 PSUAC) closes out its six-game homestand Tuesday night at 6:00 pm against Penn State Schuylkill.