UPDATE: Junior guard
Carolyn Appleby (Greensburg, Pa./Greensburg Central Catholic) was named to the Elite Eight All-Tournament Team at the conclusion of the national championship game Friday night. Appleby averaged 20.0 points and 5.0 assists for the Crimson Hawks in their two games at the Elite Eight.
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – All good things must come to an end. Sadly, for IUP women's basketball their historic season ended prematurely with a 92-68 national semifinal loss to No. 1 Ashland Wednesday night at the Sanford Pentagon.
The Crimson Hawks end their season with a 30-4 record while Ashland advances to Friday's national championship game against Central Missouri.
IUP set a program record with its 30 victories, besting the previous mark of 27 from the 2007-08 season. The Crimson Hawks also set program records for season win percentage (.882), consecutive home victories (21), and tied records for conference wins (20) and fewest losses (four) en route to their sixth Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Western Division regular season title.
The Crimson Hawks won the Atlantic Region title for the first time and advanced further in the Elite Eight than any other IUP team in program history.
Individual records also part of IUP's momentous year
Senior forward
Megan Smith (Blain, Pa./West Perry) led IUP Wednesday night with 21 points, breaking the program single season record for points in a season with 625. All-American Jahzinga Tracey did hold the top three marks of 612 points (2006-07), 609 (08-09) and 607 (07-08).
Also reaching double-figures Wednesday for IUP were
Carolyn Appleby (Greensburg, Pa./Greensburg Central Catholic) with 17 points and
Brittany Robinson (Harrisburg, Pa./Central Dauphin East) with 14 points. Robinson also had seven rebounds and four blocked shots.
Appleby finished the year with 522 points, the seventh highest single season total in IUP history.
Lauren Wolosik (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Catholic) dished out five assists on the night to finish with a single season IUP record of 175.
Audrey Stapleton (Indiana, Pa./Indiana) also broke a program record, shooting 48.8 percent (39-of-80) from 3-point range this year.
Eagles extend their record winning streak
Defending champion Ashland (36-0), currently on a 73-game win streak, shot 50 percent from the field outrebounded the Crimson Hawks 49-to-26. All-American Alaina Snyder had 23 points, 20 rebounds and six assists.
The game started fast, as the teams sprinted out to an 8-8 tie just 2:34 into the night. It was a 14-13 Ashland lead after an Appleby 3-pointer, but the Eagles finished the quarter on a 12-2 run to take a 26-15 lead heading into the second.
Ashland led 42-30 at halftime and built a lead of as many as 27 in the fourth quarter in the win.
Follow
For up-to-date game information, visit www.IUPAthletics.com and follow IUP women's basketball on Twitter @IUPCrimsonHawk and @IUP_WBB.
