Crimson and gray women’s hoopers Justina Mascaro and Lexi Griggs were named IUP Athletes of the Week, announced by the sports information office Monday morning.
The duo helped the 11th-ranked Crimson Hawks to a pair of road conference wins over the weekend at Shepherd and Shippensburg as they stretched their win streak to eight games and remained unbeaten in league play.
Mascaro put together back-to-back career games, averaging 27.5 points and 8.0 rebounds per game while shooting 62.9 percent from the field. The junior guard opened her weekend with a career-high 23 points on 9-of-12 shooting, adding five rebounds, three blocks and three steals in a 91-76 win at Shepherd Friday night.
But her Saturday performance was even better, scoring 32 points and grabbing 11 rebounds for her first career double-double in a hard fought 69-61 win at Shippensburg. Trailing early, Mascaro helped IUP chip away at the lead, scoring 15 first half points to take a 4-point lead at halftime. She opened up the second half with seven straight points and scored six in the final 2:49 of a close game to help the Crimson Hawks pull out the win.
Griggs made her return the lineup this weekend after missing two games with an injury. She came back with a vengeance, tying a season-high with 18 points on 7-of-11 shooting in the win at Shepherd. Griggs added six rebounds, dished out four assists and had four steals in 38 minutes.
Griggs was at her best in the second half when Shepherd was attempting its comeback, scoring 13 of her 18 points while shooting 5-of-7 from the field.
These are the first career IUP weekly awards for both Mascaro and Griggs.
