The Golden Rams hosted the Kutztown University Golden Bears, last Wednesday at 6 p.m. The Rams edged out a win over the Bears with a final score of 63-59. A game that seemed like it was going to be total domination ended up being a nail biter in the second half.The Golden Bears made the Rams play down to the last minute. This was the type of game that was not going to be over until the final buzzer.
In the first half, both teams looked like they were feeling each other out. WCU and Kutztown played a little sloppy in the first opening minutes, but as soon as the rust came off they were ready to play.
Captain Shauna Palmer started the scoring off for WCU and then point guard Kiesha Mack took over the scoring. Mack drained her first three of the night and they literally never stopped.
Mack tied the record when she scored eight three-pointers throughout the game. All she needed was just one more three pointer in order to tie the WCU single-season record she set last year. One would think that the Golden Bears would have been smart and at least double-teamed Mack when the ball was in her hand.
That just was not the case; the Golden Bears must have been in awe of Mack’s three-point accuracy. They were too busy watching her bring the ball down court and make three after three that they forgot to cover her.
WCU just could not seem to get a large enough lead over Kutztown. Despite Mack’s 32 points in the game, the Bears never let up. With 3:27 left in the first half, the score was 26-22, until Mack hammered down another three.
A huge contribution to the Bears’ ability to stay with the Rams were the referees. They seemed to call a substantial amount of traveling calls against the Golden Rams.
Maybe these calls were accurate or maybe the referee was intimidated by the yells of the Kutztown camera-man. Who knows? But by the end of the first half WCU held a decent lead of 31-25.
At the start of the second half of the game Mack already had posted 20 points, so one would think the Bears would be all over her. Maybe the Bears’ coach assumed Mack’s three-point scoring was a fluke. Well, she proved Kutztown wrong as she opened up the first couple minutes of the second half with another shower of three pointers.
With 11:43 left in the second half, WCU began to get sloppy again with turnovers which pulled the Bears within three points and made the score 42-45.
If the Bears were going to take the lead, it would have been right at this point. But, freshman Justine Pfaff eliminated that hope when she put up a deuce of her own, which made the score 52-48.
The one thing the Golden Bears do have is a never-die attitude. They stayed with the Rams, and with 46 seconds left in the game, they watered down the Rams’ lead to 59-56.
The Bears still did not learn their lesson; they left Kiesha Mack open and she drove that dagger through the Bears’ heart when she hit her final three-pointer of the night.
With nine seconds left, Kutztown tried to foul to get the ball back, hoping the Rams would miss a foul shot, but that plan did not succeed.
They fouled “Magic Mack” and she did what she does best: hit her foul shots and sealed the Rams win.