Box Score

ERIE, PA – Sarah Pastorek (Johnstown/Bishop McCort) scored 19 points, grabbed seven rebounds and dished out six assists and a jumper in the lane by Marita Mathe (Indiana, Pa. /Indiana) gave the Crimson Hawks a three-point lead with 15 seconds left in overtime as third seeded IUP won a tight battle with number two seed Gannon, defeating the Golden Knights 71-68 in the quarterfinals of the 2012 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Women's Basketball Tournament on Tuesday night at the Hammermill Center in Erie.

The Crimson Hawks (22-5) will now travel to Edinboro to take on Bloomsburg, the number one seed in the Eastern Division, in the semifinals on Friday night. This will be a rematch from earlier in the season in a game played at IUP's Memorial Field House in which the Crimson Hawks won 84-79 as five players reached double-figures in scoring, led by Mathe's 19.

In tonight's second half, a layup by Mathe with 2:03 remaining in regulation put IUP ahead of the Golden Knights 62-60. The Crimson Hawks would then force a Gannon turnover and missed shot before Nettie Blake's jumper in the paint with under five seconds to go tied the score at 62-62.

Booking it down the court, Mathe would put up a three with no time left but missed, sending the game to overtime.

The Crimson Hawks struck first in the extra period with Pastorek's two-point bucket giving them a 64-62 lead. Blake would then miss a pair of free throws on Gannon's next trip down the court before Leslie Stapleton (Indiana, Pa. /Indiana) was sent to the line, hitting 1-of-2 to put IUP ahead by three at 65-62 with 4:08 remaining.

Blake then redeemed herself on the next possession with a layup to pull the Golden Knights to within one but Pastorek split her free throws at the other end to get the lead back to two. The Crimson Hawks would again go 1-of-2 from the foul line the next time down the floor with Mathe adding to the lead and after a steal by Pastorek with under two minutes remaining, Stapleton was fouled and nailed her pair to put IUP ahead 69-64 with 1:38 remaining.

Blake would again go to work for Gannon, getting a dish from Kelley Sundberg and converting down low to cut IUP's lead to three with 1:23 left on the clock.

After an IUP turnover the very next possession, Gannon would try its luck from beyond the arc but Caitlyn Lowe failed to convert, missing again on a jumper before a foul sent Blake to the line with 43 seconds left. She would sink both, making it a 69-68 IUP lead with just 43 seconds left, before the Crimson Hawks would come down the court and respond with Mathe's bucket with 15 seconds to go.

The Golden Knights final shot at the tie was in the hands of Brittany Batts, who would miss the three-point try with two seconds remaining as IUP sealed the victory to advance.

It was an evenly matched second half as Gannon outscored IUP 32-29 in the second 20 minute period. The Golden Knights shot 42.3 percent from the floor while IUP shot 40.0 percent and both teams combined for just nine turnovers. However Gannon was able to get to the foul line much more, going 9-of-12 from the charity stripe while the Crimson Hawks went just 2-of-3, making up the difference.

The Crimson Hawks held a 33-30 halftime lead with help from Vianca Tejada (Pennsauken, NJ/Cherry Hill East), who scored nine points in just 11 minutes, getting her first start since a February 1 game at Gannon. IUP shot 46.2 percent from the field in the first half while the Golden Knights shot a nearly equal 45.8 percent.

Scoring 18 points in the first half, Gannon's Jennifer Papich finished with 25 in 42 minutes of action, going 10-of-21 from the field and 5-of-5 at the foul line. She added four rebounds, three assists and five steals, but turned the ball over four times.

Blake added 20 points for the Golden Knights, going 7-of-11 from the field and 6-of-10 from the foul line, but was limited by the Crimson Hawks to just one rebound and turned the ball over five times. Lowe scored 13 points while Sundberg finished with 11 assists and just two turnovers.

Pastorek's 19 points came on an 8-of-16 shooting performance, as she went 3-of-4 from the field line. Four of her seven boards came on the offensive end and picked up two blocks and a pair of steals, adding to her extremely impressive all-around game in the win.

Mathe went 6-of-13 from the field in scoring 14 points, while Amy Fairman (Creekside, Pa. /Marion Center) finished with 11 points on 5-of-7 shooting, with three assists. Continuing the balanced play, Stapleton had 12 points, knocking down a pair of three-pointers, and went 6-of-8 from the foul line. Tejada would finish with nine points, grabbing seven boards and adding three assists.

In the other Western Division matchup, top seeded Edinboro cruised to a 77-58 win over fourth seed Cal, as the Fighting Scots will host the PSAC final four this weekend. Bloomsburg defeated number four seed Shippensburg 69-61 while East second seed West Chester defeated third seed Millersville 64-57. The Fighting Scots will host West Chester on Friday, with the winner to play against the victor of the IUP-Bloomsburg matchup in the championship game on Saturday.