MILLERSVILLE, Pa. — Third place in the PSAC East was on the line as the Marauders hosted the Golden Bears Wednesday evening. The contest was the definition of a back-and-forth battle, as both teams held 11-point advantages in the game. Millersville entered the last possession down 62-60 but a missed three-pointer sealed their fate and the visitors exited with a 64-60 victory.
 
The Marauders had trouble penetrating the Golden Bears' interior defense early in the first period. This was evidenced by a 25% mark from the field for the hosts. However, tenacious rebounding gave them extra chances; Millersville had eight offensive boards in the first 10 minutes. Even so, Kutztown ended the period with a buzzer-beating layup to give them a 13-11 lead. 
 
Makiah Shaw opened the second quarter with consecutive baskets to pull even at 15, but the visitors immediately responded with a 9-0 run. The 'Ville fought back with two point baskets from Morgan Mahoney and Rhyan Mitchell, but the Golden Bears' three-point assault was too much to overcome by half. 
 
The hosts opened the second half by scoring seven straight, the first five of which were courtesy of Sophie Elstone. That run cut the deficit to one at 32-31 and was fueled by three visitor turnovers. The Marauders then took a 37-36 lead with five minutes left on a La'Shyra Williams layup assisted by Elstone. The difference in the Millersville offense was actually its defense. Instead of playing in the halfcourt after made visitor baskets, they were able to get out and run in transition after Golden Bear misses or turnovers. The hosts held them to just 27.3% from the field in the period and forced four turnovers to just one of their own. 
 
The Marauders were not done yet. Jillian Crawford then took over, cashing in on back-to-back threes and drawing a three-shot foul on her third attempt. She made two of three to give the hosts their biggest lead of the night at 50-39 and cap off a 26-7 Marauder run. 
 
Kutztown answered right back with a 9-0 run to begin the fourth and knotted the game at 52 with seven minutes remaining. The rivals traded baskets down the stretch, but the Marauders entered the final two minutes down by four. Williams got fouled en route to the basket and knocked down two free throws to cut it to two. The Marauders got the necessary stop on the other end but couldn't cap it off with the tying score. 


GAME NOTES

• Millersville's all-time record against Kutztown moves to 62-29 after the loss. After the Marauders had gotten the best of the Golden Bears in the early years of this rivalry, it has been a much more even matchup over the past few seasons. The 'Ville is now 4-6 over their last 10 meetings. 
• The Marauders fall a game and a half behind the Golden Bears in the PSAC East standings with the loss, as their conference record falls below .500 at 5-6. They remain in fourth place, a half-game ahead of Mansfield. 

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• The Marauders outscored the Golden Bears 34-28 in the painted area. It's just their third loss this season when outscoring their opponent in the paint. Millersville was previously 6-2 when doing so. 
• Offensive rebounds were another key to the Marauder's dominion over the third quarter. They outrebounded the Golden Bears 14-4 overall and seven to one on the offensive end. For the game, they outrebounded the visitors 28-8 on that end. Their 52 total rebounds were a season best by far; their previous high had been 44 against Shippensburg on Jan. 10. 

POSTGAME REACTION FROM HEAD COACH KIRA MOWEN

• On the final possession: "I made a mistake–I didn't call a timeout. My gut feeling would have been to call a timeout, advance the ball, and get us into something. However, we had been scoring in transition much of the day and finding mismatches by running, so I thought by grabbing that rebound and running we would get a quick bucket. When the play really broke down and we started to pull it out again, I should have called a timeout, so that was on me."
• On their third quarter run: "Every time we go into a game like this, I tell them that we need to small adjustments and chip away and chip away and chip away. I didn't realize that our chip away was going to be a 10 point swing in our direction. I thought our third quarter was amazing. It's probably one of the better ones we've played." 

UP NEXT

• The Marauders look to get back on track when they visit East Stroudsburg to take on the Warriors. Tip-off for the Jan. 27 contest is at 1 p.m.