Boxscore

IUP tallied the last six points of the game and held California to only four points over the final 9:52 to post a 60-57 victory over the Vulcans and win for the fifth straight time and 13th time in its past 14 games.

The win enabled the Crimson Hawks (15-5, 7-1 PSAC West) to snap a five-game regular season losing streak to California and avenge a 93-59 loss at Hamer Hall on Jan. 19. The Vulcans entered the game ranked No. 5 in the Atlantic Region, three spots ahead of IUP.

IUP also stayed in a tie for first place in the loss column in the PSAC West with Edinboro, which improved to 8-1 in the division with a 78-73 victory over Gannon. California dropped to 15-6 and 6-3 with its second straight road loss to the two PSAC West frontrunners.

IUP has played one fewer PSAC West game than the Fighting Scots as a result of a postponement at Lock Haven last Wednesday. That game will be made up on Monday, Feb. 21.

The Crimson Hawks trailed by as many as 14 in the first half, finally caught up at 54 with four minutes remaining but fell behind again 57-54 at the 2:13 mark on a free throw by Kayla Smith. That proved to be California's final point as the IUP defense took control.

After Smith missed the second free throw, Danielle Luckett grabbed the rebound but the ball was taken away from her by Sarah Pastorek (Johnstown/Bishop McCort), who drove all the way to the hoop for a layup that brought IUP within one. The Vulcans missed two point blank shots on their next possession, and the Crimson Hawks had the ball back with a chance to take the lead.

IUP capitalized on the opportunity when Brianna Johnson (Fairfax, Va./Oakton) fed Lacey Claar (Imler, Pa./Claysburg-Kimmel) for a driving layup that gave the Crimson Hawks their first lead since the game's opening four minutes. Again California missed a pair of shots, but IUP could not build on its lead when it committed a shot clock violation.

California ran the clock down to 4.7 seconds before calling a timeout, but Luckett was called for an offensive foul before the Vulcans could get the ball in. Claar was fouled with 3.6 seconds left and drained both free throws for the final margin. Eryn Withers (Burtonsville, Md./Springbrook) sealed the win when she stole Amy Johns' inbounds pass at midcourt and dribbled out the clock.

Claar led IUP with 16 points and all five Crimson Hawk starters reached double figures. Johnson followed with 14 points while adding six rebounds and four assists, and Withers, Katelyn Marshall (Bowie, Md./Elizabeth Seton) and Sarah Pastorek (Johnstown/Bishop McCort) each had 10. Pastorek paced IUP on the boards with nine while Marshall joined Johnson with four assists.

Smith led all scorers with 19 points for California and had a team-high nine rebounds. She was followed in the scoring column by Luckett with 15 and Ryan Gadson with 12, all coming on four 3-pointers in the first half.

California appeared on its way to another easy win over IUP when it went on a 13-4 run to turn a five-point lead into a 33-19 advantage with 6:12 left in the first half. But the Crimson Hawks struck right back with a 12-0 surge of its own, including seven points by Claar and four by Johnson, to pull within two. Baskets by Luckett and Smith gave the Vulcans a 37-31 halftime lead.

IUP's deficit reached nine with 12:35 left in the game before using two buckets apiece by Withers and Johnson and a 3-pointer by Claar to make it 53-51 with 8:37 to go. It stayed the close the rest of the way, enabling the Crimson Hawks to pull off their late-game heroics.

After playing its first home game in two weeks, IUP is back on the road again on Saturday with a 1 p.m. game at Slippery Rock.