ESU Hosts Pocono Classic

By Anthony Fabrikant
Contributing Writer

East Stroudsburg University hosted the 51st Annual Pocono Classic women’s basketball tournament at Koehler Fieldhouse, which kicked off around 1 p.m last Saturday.

The tournament consisted of four participating teams: East Stroudsburg University (Pa), Philadelphia University (Pa), Chestnut Hill College (Pa), and Glenville State College (WV).

The first game of the tournament saw the Glenville Pioneers beat the Philadelphia University Rams 91-74.

These two teams adhered to different strategies as Philly relied on their tenacity and athletic ability, while Glenville ran efficient plays and started hitting their shots. Glenville’s hot shooting enabled the Pioneers to surge to the lead.

With just seconds before the halftime buzzer, Glenville hit a three-pointer to extend their lead at the halfway point, 34-28.

From that point on, Glenville continued its hot shooting from beyond the arc. Sophomore guard Kristin DesRocher hit four threes from downtown and led the Pioneers, who as a team finished with twelve three-pointers in the game.

While the offense found the gas pedal in the second half, Pioneers head coach Charles Marshall found a way to take advantage of the hurried play employed by the Rams and enforced a 3/4 court press.

Glenville’s press forced the Rams to slow down, but unfortunately it resulted in turnover after turnover for Philly.

The second game began with ESU junior guard Rachel Falkowski and Chestnut Hill junior guard Caity Kuhnen trading three-pointers.

The Griffins went on to finish the first quarter by outscoring the Warriors 12-6, resulting in the score after one quarter being 15-9 in favor of the Griffins.

The Griffins were able to keep the Warriors at bay into the second quarter until the Warriors got red hot and hit four unanswered three-pointers to go into halftime with a 30-26 lead.

But the Warriors didn’t stop there as they started the second half with a 7-4 run that forced Chestnut Hill head coach Michael West to call a timeout.

Following the short break, ESU junior forward Allison Howard responded by draining a three, which kick started the Warriors’ offense and spurred a 9-0 run.

ESU went on to win the game 64-45.

This game marked the first win for new Warrior head coach Diane Decker.

Sunday’s action resulted in Chestnut Hill topping Glenville State 100-98 in overtime, while ESU fell to Philadelphia University 62-53.

Email Anthony at:
afabrikant@live.esu.edu