Beaver Edges Brandywine 71-69 In PSUAC Title Game

SCRANTON, Pa. – The top-ranked teams in Penn State University Athletic Conference women's basketball battled back-and-forth for 40 minutes, but it was West No. 1 seed Penn State Beaver that came out on top, defeating East No. 1 Penn State Brandywine 71-69 on Sunday evening in the conference championship game inside the Bryce Jordan Center.

Brandywine held a lead as large as seven points during the first half before facing a deficit as big as nine points late in the third quarter.

Trailing 46-37 with under two minutes to play in the third period, Brandywine needed less than five minutes to retake the lead, moving back in front 51-50 on a layup from Nikki Velez (Gloucester, N.J./Gloucester City). The Lions quickly trimmed the deficit to five at the conclusion of the third following a put-back by Madison D'Ambrosio (Springfield, Pa./Springfield) and two free throws from Velez. Dairayonna Stewart-Harold (New Castle, Del./William Penn) opened the final period with a basket, while Ally Giannkarios (Brookhaven, Pa./Sun Valley) followed with a bucket and Velez sank a pair of layups to fuel the rally.

The teams spent the next three minutes in a one-possession game before Alexis Cross' layup handed Beaver a 60-56 edge with 4:02 to go. Beaver upped the margin to five points with 40 seconds to play; however, Velez knocked down three free throws to get the Lions back within two.

Forced to foul, Brandywine saw Diamond Thomas trek to the free throw line four times during the final 24 seconds. She knocked down three shots to increase the margin back to five points. Amanda Floyd (Glenolden, Pa./Interboro) canned a three-pointer with less than one second to go, but Beaver ran the clock out before Brandywine could extend the game further.

Stewart-Harold fueled a 8-0 Brandywine spurt midway through the second quarter, scoring seven points in a span of 1:04, to push the Lions in front 28-21. Beaver answered with 10-straight points before the half to take a 31-28 edge into intermission. Beaver used a 10-2 surge late in the third quarter to grow its lead to nine points.

The Lions received a team-high 22 points from Velez, who was named PSUAC Player of the Year earlier Sunday, during the final game of her career. She knocked down all seven of her free throws and buried a trio of three-pointers, giving her 325 for her career. Velez scored 542 points during her senior season, setting the Brandywine career scoring mark with 1,800 points.

D'Ambrosio finished with nine points and 11 rebounds during her team record 113^th and final game at Brandywine. She closed her career with 928 points and 643 rebounds.

D'Ambrosio and Velez make up the winningest senior class in Brandywine women's basketball history with 82 victories and two PSUAC championships.

Stewart-Harold finished with 13 points on 6-of-9 shooting, while Floyd added 12 points and seven boards and Dana D'Ambrosio (Secane, Pa./Ridley) collected nine points and seven rebounds.

The Lions finished the 2019-20 season with a record of 20-8, the team's fifth 20-win season in 14 years under Head Coach Larry Johnson.