Madison D’Ambrosio, Lion’s Eye Staff Writer, mld5656@psu.edu
On Friday, Jan. 17 at Penn State Fayette, stand-out Penn State Brandywine senior guard Nikki Velez poured in 29 points to surpass Dana Johnson’s 12-year-tenure as Penn State Brandywine’s women’s basketball all-time leading scorer.
Dana Johnson graduated in 2007 and accumulated 1,519 points throughout her career. Velez only needed a total of 19 points to break that record going into the game, which was possible, considering Velez leads the Penn State University Athletic Conference (PSUAC) and her team in points-per-game (18.3).
Velez will be graduating this May with a bachelor of science in psychology. She is a two-sport athlete at Brandywine, playing basketball and softball.
In her freshman year, Velez accumulated 513 points in only 30 games of action. She finished third in the PSUAC in scoring at 17.1 points per game. She led the PSUAC in made three-pointers, making at least one three-pointer in all games except for one.
Not just an impressive scorer her freshman year, but a defensive threat as well, Velez averaged three steals per game that made Velez fifth in the PSUAC conference. To wrap up her freshman year of collegiate level basketball, she claimed United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA) First Team All-American, First Team All-PSUAC, and PSUAC Newcomer of the Year awards.
During her sophomore year, Velez again earned those awards and added a third, Newcomer of The Year, which is only for freshmen.
She received USCAA First Team All-American, and First Team All-PSUAC awards for the second year in a row, but was added to the PSUAC All-Academic Team, as well as received the John Fritz Sportsmanship Award. She led her team in scoring 14.8 points per game and 2.7 steals per game. Her stealing average was good enough to earn her a place in the top 15 in the USCAA. She topped all scorers in the PSUAC in three-pointers made with 72, and made at least one three-pointer in 25-of-26 games.
In her junior year Velez reached another milestone. On November 30, 2018 against Penn State Mont Alto, Velez recorded her 1,000th career point. She also ended the season as the USCAA Second Team All-American, and wound up being the second best in the PSUAC.
Velez described the feeling of becoming the all-time leading scorer, “It is an honor to have this title, but there is still a lot more of the season left to play and our only focus is winning the PSUAC and making it to the USCAA Nationals.”
Velez also said, “Dana Johnson is one of the best players to come through Brandywine basketball; having her at the next home game to give me the All-Time Leading Scorer Award was a special moment for me.”