Brandywine Pulls Away From Scranton In 80-67 Victory

SCRANTON, Pa. – Penn State Brandywine received a career-high 28 points from Nikki Velez (Gloucester, N.J./Gloucester City) and outscored Penn State Scranton 24-12 during the third quarter to pull away with a victory by a score of 80-67 on Tuesday night.

Velez made six three-pointers and shot 10-of-23 overall from the field. With her 28-point performance, Velez moved into second on Brandywine's all-time scoring list, passing Cara Zibelman (1.342) with 1,367 career points.

Velez netted 10 first-quarter points, including two triples, but needed to sink two free throws just before the end of the period to put Brandywine in front 17-16 after one quarter.

Four scorers contributed layups during an 8-0 run to start the second quarter as the Lions moved in front by nine. Velez knocked down a trio of three-pointers during a span of less than three minutes to maintain the nine-point edge, but Scranton rallied, pulling within two at the break.

Scranton led briefly in the third quarter, grabbing a 39-38 edge with the first three points of the stanza; however, Amanda Floyd (Glenolden, Pa./Interboro) knocked down a triple and Velez followed with a layup, starting a 15-3 Lions' run during the decisive third quarter. Kira Thorne (Alconbury, England/Alconbury) gave Brandywine its first double-figure lead with two free throws at the 2:49 mark and the Lions swelled the margin to 16 points with a jumper from Erin Michael (Brookhaven, Pa./Sun Valley) prior to the end of the period.

Scranton got as close as 12 points down with 7:16 to go, but Brandywine held the hosts scoreless for the next three minutes and ran away with Ginamarie McNamee's (Glenolden, Pa./Interboro) layup capping a surge of eight-straight points that upped the lead to 78-59.

Floyd collected 13 points, five steals and four assists, while Madison D'Ambrosio (Springfield, Pa./Springfield) tallied 12 points for Brandywine, which shot 45 percent from the field. Velez pulled down a team-best seven rebounds and McNamee handed out a game-high six assists.

Brandywine (3-3, 2-1 PSUAC) hosts Penn State DuBois Friday night at 6:00 pm.