Julie Kulesza scores 31 points in Goldey-Beacom’s 72-69 victory over St. Thomas Aquinas

Photo by Kylie Osullivan on Unsplash

The Goldey-Beacom College women’s basketball team earned their second victory of the season on Wednesday with a 72-69 win over the St. Thomas Aquinas College Spartans.

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Senior guard  Julie Kulesza led the team in scoring in the win with 31 points. Kulesza also recorded a double-double in the win collecting ten rebounds with her 31 points.

Sophomore guard Katie Yoder also scored double-digits in the victory by recording 14 points.

The Lightning had the advantage in multiple categories in the game, which included second-chance points (14-12), and assists (18-15).

Goldey-Beacom also had the advantage in shooting, with the team shooting 45.8%(27-59) and St. Thomas Aquinas shooting 45.3%(29-64). Lightning was also the better team at the three-point line in this game, as the team shot 38.5% (10-26), and the Spartans shot 21.4%(3-14).

Related:

Rory Ciszkowski scores 29 points in Goldey-Beacom’s 80-59 victory over Wilmington University

Game Recap:

Goldey-Beacom holds a one-point lead at the end of the first quarter.

The Lightning started the game by flying out to a 7-2 lead with 6:35 remaining in the opening period. Julie Kulesza did a little bit of everything during this run, scoring two points, collecting three rebounds, and dishing out one assist.

Seconds later, St. Thomas Aquinas punched back by scoring five unanswered points to tie the game at seven with 5:43 left in the first quarter.

GBC bounced back by outscoring the Spartans 9-2 to take a 16-9 edge with 1:35 remaining in the opening period. Senior guard Julie McCarron nailed back-to-back three-pointers at the end of this run.

St. Thomas Aquinas ended the opening period on a good note by scoring six straight points to slice the deficit to one point (16-15) heading into the second.

The Lightning leads by 12 points at the end of the first half.

Fast-forward to the 8:04-minute mark in the second quarter, when Goldey-Beacom’s advantage expanded to eight (25-17) when  Julie Kulesza drained a three-point shot.

Sixty-five seconds later, the Spartans came charging back when the team scored seven straight points to bring the score to 25-24 with 5:35 left in the first half.

St. Thomas Aquinas would tie the game up at 28 at the 4:39 minute mark when Delaney Finnegan hit a layup.

GBC ended the first half on a strong note by scoring 12 straight points to grab a 40-28 lead heading into halftime. Kulesza had the hot hand during this run, scoring 11 of the team’s 12 points.

GBC ends the third quarter with a three-point lead.

The Spartans found a spark in the third quarter by outscoring the Lightning 25-16, which cut Goldey’s double-digit edge to three points (56-53) heading into the final quarter.

A couple of things happened in the third to turn the tide in favor of St. Thomas Aquinas, which were turnovers and the team outshot GBC during that time.

The Spartans only had one turnover in the third, but the Lightning had four.

St. Thomas Aquinas hit 11 of their 18 shots in the third quarter (61.1%), and Goldey-Beacom made 7 of 14 (50%).

The Spartans also drained two of four shots from the three-point line (50%) and GBC hit one out of five (20%).

Goldey-Beacom takes home a 72-69 victory!

St. Thomas Aquinas brought the momentum they had in the third quarter into the early minutes of the fourth, as the team outscored Goldey 12-8 to take a 65-64 advantage with 2:47 remaining in the game.

The Lightning fought back by outscoring the Spartans 8-4 for the rest of the fourth to seal a 72-69 win.