ESU-Mansfield Women's Basketball

EAST STROUDSBURG - Mansfield's Daima Thomas scored four straight points late in the game to break a tie and carry the Mounties to a 69-66 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Eastern Division women's basketball victory over East Stroudsburg University Wednesday night.

Thomas sank two free throws with 3:29 remaining to put her team ahead, 64-62. She then grabbed an offensive rebound and put the ball back in for a four-point edge with 2:30 left.

The Warriors climbed back to within one point on Michele Pilenza's 15-footer and Kelly Hutchison's free throw with 1:44 to go, but the Mounties' Jennifer Nichols drilled in a 3-pointer with 1:20 left to open the gap to four again at 69-65.

The only scoring the rest of the way was Pam Helt's free throw. The Warriors Kelly Hutchison and Stephanie Kuhn both missed what would have been game-tying 3-pointers in the final seconds.

Hutchison took game honors with a career-high 24 points. She made 8 of 16 shots from the floor and 6 of 8 from the foul line. She also grabbed nine rebounds. Helt followed with 11 points and Pilenza had ten.

Lynelle Mosley and Jessica Pfeiffer led the Mounties with 16 points apiece followed by Thomas with 13 and Niki Snyder with ten. Thomas was the game's high rebounder with 11.

Mansfield shot 61 percent from the floor, 26 for 42, which made up for the team's 34 turnovers. ESU made 39 percent of its shots, 22 for 57, and turned the ball over 22 times.

The win broke a 11-game losing streak for the Mounties which left the team's record at 2-13 overall and 1-1 in the conference. ESU is now 3-12 overall and 1-1 in PSAC play.

Ross 1 6-8 8, Kuhn 4 0-0 9, Pilenza 3 4-4 10, Helt 4 3-4 11, Hutchison 9 6-8 24, Barnes 0 0-0 0, Thompson 1 0-0 2, Wolfe 0 0-0 0, Garlach 0 2-2 2, Kraft 0 0-0 0 Totals 22 21-26 66

Mosley 5 4-4 16, Pfeiffer 6 4-4 16, Thomas 5 3-3 13, Nichols 2 0-0 5, Connelly 1 0-0 2,

Izbicki 0 0-0 0, Davis 0 0-0 0, Gauronsky 1 0-0 3, Gates 0 0-0 0, Snyder 4 2-6 10, Tyler 0 0-0 0, Katsoff 2 0-2 4 Totals 26 13-19 69

Three Point Field Goals: ESU - Kuhn Mansfield - Mosley 2, Nichols 1, Gauronsky 1

Halftime: Mansfield 36-30

Team Records: ESU 3-12

Mansfield 2-13