CHESTER, Pa. (Nov. 21, 2015) – Senior
Brianna Wylie (Mount Laurel, N.J.) exploded by scoring a career-high 29 points to propel the Widener University women's basketball team to a 77-58 victory over Penn State Brandywine on Saturday afternoon at the Schwartz Center.
Widener (3-1) got its first five points from Wylie and led from wire-to-wire. After Laura Monro canned a 3-pointer to make it 8-7, the Pride did not allow the Nittany Lions to convert a field goal for nearly five minutes and built up a double-digit lead when freshman
Emily Hardy (Lewisberry, Pa.) put back her own miss. The hosts led 19-12 at the end of the first.
The second quarter was played evenly with both teams netting 19 points. A trifecta from Jilly Gledhill brought the deficit down to six at 35-29 with 1:33 left before Nicolette Napolean finished a pass from Monro that beat the buzzer to make it 38-31 at the break.
The Pride, however, had its strongest stretch in the third quarter and quickly went ahead by twin figures on a free throw converted by sophomore
Allison Gallagher (Souderton, Pa.). The margin ballooned up to 16 on two occasions courtesy of a pair of
Ally Ferrucci (Vineland, N.J.) baskets from the charity stripe.
Penn State Brandywine (2-1) started the scoring in the fourth when Monro drove in for two layups, but Wylie took over from there by scoring 13 of her 29 points over in a span of just 4:58. The senior netted a layup in transition after receiving a pass from classmate
Nikki Sutliff (Sweet Valley, Pa.) before capping the scoring with a layup at the 1:29 mark. She also drew traffic and set up freshman
Emma Gardy's first career basket from downtown during the final 17-point stretch which helped result in the Pride running away with convincing win.
Wylie finished with 29 points by shooting a red-hot 9-for-11 from the field and 11-for-13 from the charity stripe to lead the way for Widener. She also grabbed nine boards to fall just shy of a double-double. Ferrucci finished with eight points and six assists to go along with three steals, while Sutliff contributed four points, five rebounds, three helpers and two swipes.
Penn State Brandywine was paced by Monro, who scored 17 points and ended the game with 994 in her career before fouling out in the fourth quarter. She will have the opportunity to reach the 1,000-point milestone in her next game at home against Trinity on Tuesday evening. Olivia Encarnacion and Melanie Kempf netted 10 apiece.
Widener, which has won three games in a row after dropping its season opener, wraps up its homestand when it hosts Wesley on Tuesday, Nov. 24 at 7:00 p.m.
