KUTZTOWN, Pa. – For the third time in the last four seasons the IUP women's basketball team will play for a conference title, as the top-seed Crimson Hawks defeated Bloomsburg 85-57 in the semifinals of the 2019 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Championships Saturday at Keystone Arena.
The Crimson Hawks will play East top-seed and host Kutztown Sunday at 2:05 p.m.
IUP shot a season-best 61.7 percent from the field and saw four players score in double-figures, putting up one of its best offensive performances of the year.
Senior forward
Brittany Robinson, fresh off hitting the 1,000-point milestone three nights ago, scored a career-high 23 points on 11-of-17 shooting in just 22 minutes. She barely missed a double-double with eight rebounds, adding two blocks and two steals.
The biggest individual highlight came from senior guard
Lauren Wolosik, who dished out her 500th career assist to break the IUP record of 499 held by Patti Connaghan.
Wolosik finished the game with a season-high 11 assists and got it done on the defensive side with four steals.
The Crimson Hawks (25-3) dished out 26 assists on 37 made buckets, their most since tallying 27 assists in the season-opening win over Alderson Broaddus.
Others reaching double-figures were senior guard
Carolyn Appleby and junior guard
Natalie Myers with 13 points each, and junior forward
Lexi Griggs with 12 points.
Myers finished 4-of-7 from 3-point range and almost reached a double-double with eight rebounds.
The Crimson Hawks got out to yet another fast start by putting 26 points on the board in the first quarter. They shot 11-of-14 in the first 10 minutes, knocking down three 3-pointers, and outrebounding Bloomsburg 9-to-3.
Bloomsburg (20-10) came out stronger in the second quarter, even outscoring IUP 21-17 to cut into its deficit, but the Crimson Hawks still took a 43-32 lead into the locker room.
IUP put the game on ice in the third quarter, using a 17-5 run in the first six minutes to take a commanding 57-37 lead on the Huskies.
The Crimson Hawks shot 10-of-16 in the third frame and held Bloomsburg to 5-of-14 while forcing six turnovers.
For the game, IUP limited Bloomsburg to just under 40 percent shooting with 16 turnovers. The Crimson Hawks also held a 37-to-23 advantage on the glass.
Notes
The Crimson Hawks entered the game No. 14 in the WBCA Top 25 and No. 19 in the D2SIDA Media Top 25 polls … They are also ranked No. 4 in the NCAA's Atlantic Region rankings … IUP improved to 8-6 all-time in PSAC semifinal games … IUP is now 2-1 against Bloomsburg in PSAC tournament play … This was IUP's first ever postseason game in Kutztown … The Crimson Hawks will be playing for the program's sixth all-time PSAC tournament title in their eighth championship game … Tomorrow will be the third conference title game appearance in six seasons under head coach
Tom McConnell … IUP lost to Cal U 62-52 in 2016 and defeated the Vulcans 84-79 in 2017 … McConnell is now 10-4 in PSAC tournament games … With her 13 points, Appleby went over 1,600 for her career … She's third in IUP history with 1,609 points.
Up next
The Crimson Hawks will take on Kutztown (19-11) in the PSAC Championship game Sunday at 2:05 p.m. The game will be broadcast live on PCN-TV. Check your local listings. IUP defeated Kutztown 72-41 in the regular season meeting on December 1 at Keystone Arena. Robinson scored a game-high 19 points and IUP forced the Golden Bears into 29 turnovers and 29 percent shooting.
Follow
For up-to-date information, visit IUPAthletics.com and follow IUP women's basketball on Twitter @IUPCrimsonHawk and @IUP_WBB.
