Brandywine Falls In Return From Break

MEDIA, Pa. -- The Penn State Brandywine women's basketball team returned from a two-week holiday break, falling 76-57 to Notre Dame of Maryland in United East Conference action, on Saturday.

The Gators forced seven Brandywine turnovers and shot better than 50 percent from the field to build a 22-10 lead through one quarter.

The visitors extended their lead to 16 points early in the second period after knocking down back-to-back three-pointers. Sierra Diawara (Glenolden, Pa./Interboro) answered with a triple and Anaiyah Allen (Lutz, Fla./Steinbrenner) added a free throw to get Brandywine back within 12.

Notre Dame used a 9-2 spurt to push its lead past 20 for the first time and held advantages as large as 21 points on three occasions before a Jazmyn Kemp (Aberdeen, Md./Aberdeen) putback layup brought the count to 45-26 at intermission.

Brandywine opened the second half with seven-straight points as Kemp and Raelyn Loper (West Chester, Pa./Rustin) sank consecutive layups and Allen tacked on a triple, helping the Lions climbed within 12. Less than two minutes later, Kemp knocked down a pair of free throws to bring the count to 47-37; however, Amani Watts answered with a layup for the Gators and the visitors outscored Brandywine 13-4 during the final 5:42 of the third quarter to extend the lead back to 19 points. Brandywine never got closer throughout the game's last 10 minutes.

Kemp produced a 17-point, 14-rebound double-double and added four blocked shots and three steals, while Allen notched 11 points and four steals. Diawara tallied 10 points and eight boards.

Brandywine shot 32 percent from the field and held a slim 45-44 edge on the boards, including 21 offensive rebounds, but was marred by 26 turnovers.

Brandywine (1-11, 0-4 UEC) travels to Delaware Monday night for its final non-conference game at Division II Wilmington University at 6:00 PM.