Boxscore

Arika Ullman (Baltimore, MD/Seton Keough) buried a 3-pointer with 11:59 remaining in the game to cap a comeback from a 13-point deficit at the outset of the second half, and IUP went on to defeat Kutztown 74-67 in the final PSAC crossover game of the season.

The Crimson Hawks (8-4) won their sixth in a row and completed a sweep of the four crossover games but not before falling behind by as many as 14 in the first half and trailing 42-29 after the Golden Bears (7-5) scored 14 seconds into the second half.

Sarah Pastorek (Johnstown/Bishop McCort) led IUP with 21 points and 12 rebounds for her third double-double of the season. Lacey Claar (Imler, Pa./Claysburg-Kimmel) followed with 13 points and Ullman had a season-high 12 on four 3-pointers. Ullman hit seven from long distance and scored 21 points in weekend victories over East Stroudsburg and Kutztown.

Claar increased her career scoring total to 997 and needs three more to become the 19th player in school history to reach 1,000. She scored 11 points in the second half to help spark the IUP comeback while finishing with five rebounds, five assists and two blocked shots.

Melissa McQuade led the Golden Bears with 16 points followed by Andrea Sisson with 14 and Kristen Murray with 10.

After allowing an average of only 39 points and 26.7 percent shooting from the field over the previous five games, the IUP defense allowed Kutztown to shoot 56 percent in the first half and fell behind 40-29 at intermission.

After a layup by Steph Zewe to begin the second half boosted the Golden Bear cushion to 13, the Crimson Hawks stormed back in the game. IUP went on a 12-3 run, including a pair of 3-pointers by Claar and two free throws each by Pastorek and Katelyn Marshall (Bowie, Md./Elizabeth Seton), to pull within 45-41 with 17 minutes left.

Zewe temporarily stopped the surge with a free throw, but layups by Vianca Tejada (Pennsauken, NJ/Cherry Hill East) and Pastorek made it 46-45 at the 12:33 mark. After a missed 3-pointer by Ashley Wood, Pastorek missed a jumper and Tejada tipped the offensive rebound out to Ullman, who drained a 3 from in front of the IUP bench to give the Crimson Hawks their first lead since it was 4-3 in the opening two minutes.

Consecutive layups by Brianna Johnson (Fairfax, Va./Oakton) upped the lead to 52-46 at the midway point of the half. Kutztown got it back to 53-51 on a jumper by McQuade, but IUP responded by scoring 12 of the next 13 points, including 3s by Tejada and Ullman, to give IUP its biggest lead of the game at 65-52 with 5:57 left and complete what turned out to be a 26-point turnaround in just 14 minutes.

The Golden Bears would not go away quietly, however, getting the deficit down to 69-63 a 3-pointer by Meredith Starr with 2:34 to go, but Kutztown scored only two more points the rest of the way.

Including earlier wins over Bloomsburg, Mansfield and East Stroudsburg this week, the Crimson Hawks are 29-4 in crossover games over the past six seasons with three undefeated slates.

IUP opens PSAC West play Wednesday with a home game vs. Gannon. The No. 22 Golden Knights are the defending PSAC and Atlantic Region champions but are coming off an 83-62 loss to Shippensburg on Sunday.