Box Score

INDIANA, PA - Marina Wareham (New Wilmington, Pa. /Kennedy Catholic) scored a season-high 14 points, and was part of a defense that forced 23 turnovers as the 12th-ranked IUP women's basketball team cruised to a 64-44 win over visiting Mansfield in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) action on Wednesday evening.

The Crimson Hawks improve to 8-1 overall with the win and 4-1 in conference play. Mansfield drops to 3-5 and 1-4 in the PSAC.

An early 8-2 run by the Crimson Hawks helped them to an 12-5 lead before 10 consecutive points made it a 22-5 game at the 7:14 mark of the first half. Seven different players would score for IUP over the first 13 minutes of the game, including Lindsay Stamp (Erie, Pa. /Mercyhurst Prep) and Lisa Burton (Pittsburgh, Pa. /Penn Hills), who each had four points.

Mansfield narrowed its gap to 13 points four minutes later after a three-pointer by Emma Lacey but IUP answered quickly with back-to-back buckets by Talen Watson (Odenton, MD/Arundel) and Wareham to push the lead back to 17 at 30-13. Lisa Burton (Pittsburgh, Pa. /Penn Hills) would finish off the first half scoring on a layup with 56 seconds to go as the Crimson Hawks took a 34-15 lead into the break.

IUP extended its lead to 27 over the first 6:10 of the second half, with Wareham and Marita Mathe (Indiana, Pa. /Indiana) each scoring five points to make it a 44-17 Crimson Hawks lead with just under 14 minutes to go.

The lead remained at 27 points with 7:47 to go before the Mountaineers put together a 12-0 run to make it a 54-39 ballgame with 4:02 remaining. The run wouldn't last for Mansfield as IUP scored the next five points, including three free throws by Sarah Pastorek (Johnstown/Bishop McCort), and closed out with a 20-point victory.

For the second straight night IUP didn't allow an opposing player to reach double-figures in scoring, as Jena Matter led Mansfield with nine points on 3-of-12 shooting. As a team the Mountaineers shot 31.6 percent from the floor, making 18-of-57 shots, and just 43.8 percent (7-of-16) from the foul line.

Wareham also went 2-of-2 from three-point range and had two assists and no turnovers in 33 minutes of action. Watson came off the bench to score 12 points in 24 minutes while Mathe added 11 points, five rebounds and three assists.

Burton scored eight points and grabbed eight boards while Melanie Todd (Springfield, VA/West Springfield) and Pastorek added eight and seven rebounds, respectively.

The Crimson Hawks return to the court in 10 days when they head to Winter Park, Florida to play in the Rollins Holiday Classic. IUP will be playing Cedarville on December 29 and 23rd-ranked Rollins on December 30.