Boxscore
IUP overcame second half foul trouble with clutch 3-point and free throw shooting and a solid defensive effort in a 62-56 victory at Gannon, keeping the Crimson Hawks tied for first in the loss column in the PSAC West.
IUP (14-5, 6-1 PSAC West) has won 12 of its last 13 games and is one-half game behind Edinboro, which upped its division record to 7-1 with an 84-71 win over California. The Crimson Hawks have played one fewer game than the Fighting Scots due to the postponement of their game at Lock Haven last Wednesday.
The Crimson Hawks entered the game No. 7 in the latest NCAA Atlantic Region rankings and improved to 27-8 in the PSAC West in three seasons under head coach Jeff Dow.
Gannon, the defending PSAC and Atlantic Region champions, are 9-10 and 2-6 in the PSAC West, three games behind Mercyhurst for fourth place in the division. The top four teams at the end of the regular season on Feb. 26 will advance to the conference tournament.
Eryn Withers (Burtonsville, Md./Springbrook), returning from a one-game suspension, led IUP with 16 points and is an even 100 away from becoming the 20th player in school history to reach the 1,000 plateau.
Lacey Claar (Imler, Pa./Claysburg-Kimmel) added 15 points followed by
Sarah Pastorek (Johnstown/Bishop McCort) with 12 and
Vianca Tejada (Pennsauken, NJ/Cherry Hill East) with 11 off the bench.
Claar hit a pair of 3-pointers to increase her school-record total to an even 200 and moved past Jacqui Martin for 17th place on the IUP career scoring list with 1,084 points.
Pastorek led the Crimson Hawks with seven rebounds and came up with five steals, including a theft with 1:15 remaining and IUP clinging to a 55-51 lead. IUP then wrapped it up from the free throw line, with Claar and Withers combining to make 7 of 8 over the final 1:07 to finish off a 20-of-24 performance for the afternoon.
Julie Kleber led the Golden Knights with 13 points, and Danielle Tucker and Caitlyn Lowe both had 12. Gannon committed 23 turnovers, including 14 steals by IUP, and had 50 miscues in losing both games this season to IUP.
The Crimson Hawks broke away from a 22-22 halftime tie to build a quick eight-point lead at the outset of the second half and were in front 35-27 with 12:29 remaining when Claar, IUP's senior leader, picked up her fourth foul.
Just over a minute later a second starter,
Brianna Johnson (Fairfax, Va./Oakton), went to the bench with her fourth foul, but the Crimson Hawks responded with three critical 3-pointers to maintain their cushion. Withers and Tejada connected from long distance sandwiched around a layup by Pastorek, and Withers made another 3 with 5:48 left to give IUP a 50-42 lead.
Kleber made two from the charity stripe with 4:52 to go to cut the Gannon deficit to 50-47, but that was as close as the Golden Knights would get. Pastorek grabbed an offensive rebound and made two free throws and then hit another from the line at the 3:20 mark to rebuild the advantage to six.
Overall, the Crimson Hawks made 12 of 14 free throws down the stretch to keep Gannon from pulling off the comeback.
IUP returns home for the first time in two weeks when California visits Memorial Field House for a 5:30 contest on Wednesday. The Crimson Hawks will be looking to avenge a 93-59 loss to the Vulcans at Hamer Hall on Jan. 19.
