INDIANA, Pa. – For the second straight outing the Crimson Hawks were forced to put together a second half comeback, rallying from eight points down at halftime for a 61-56 win over Mercyhurst Monday night at the Kovalchick Complex.
Junior guard
Justina Mascaro battled through an injury to her nose early in the contest to score a game-high 20 points. She shot 8-of-16 from the floor and added four rebounds, two assists, two blocks and a steal in 31 minutes.
The win was the 10th straight for the Crimson Hawks, who improved to 12-1 overall and remained the only team in the conference with an undefeated league record at 7-0.
The Lakers (3-10, 3-4) jumped on top early with an 11-2 lead four minutes after tipoff, making five of their first seven shots while forcing three turnovers. Mascaro was forced to leave just over two minutes into the contest during an 11-0 run by Mercyhurst, returning in the second quarter wearing a face mask.
The Crimson Hawks finished the quarter with a 6-2 run, getting buckets from
Maura D'Anna and
Lexi Griggs, along with a pair from the line by
Rajah Fink, to cut Mercyhurst's lead to 15-12 after 10 minutes.
After a second quarter layup by Mascaro, the Lakers went on an 11-4 run to get their lead to double-digits and eventually went into half with a 28-20 lead.
That lead quickly dissipated in the second half as the Crimson Hawks came out firing, going on an 11-0 run to take a 31-28 lead after a layup-and-one by Mascaro. She started the second half scoring while
Natalie Myers IUP's next seven points, including a 3-pointer after a Griggs' steal.
IUP led by as many as seven points in the third before Mercyhurst came back to tie the game at 40-40 and go into the fourth with a 43-42 lead.
The Crimson Hawks again owned the fourth quarter, shooting 56 percent from the field while Mercyhurst shot just 4-of-20 in crunch time. IUP regained the lead early on with a jumper by
Courtney Alexander and didn't look back, going up by as many as eight points in the final minute
Who stood out
Mascaro scored 12 of her 20 points in the second half, going 4-of-6 from the field with a 3-pointer and 3-of-4 from the foul line.
Myers also hit double-digits, scoring all 12 of her points during the second half comeback. She went 4-of-7 from the field and made a pair of 3-pointers, and just missed her fifth double-double of the year with nine rebounds.
Griggs was the only other Hawk in double-figures with 10 points, going 6-of-6 from the foul line with three steals.
Notes
The Crimson Hawks entered the game ranked No. 11 in the WBCA Top 25 and No. 22 in the D2SIDA Media Top 25 polls … The 8-point comeback follows the 13-point second half comeback win over Lock Haven Friday … That was the largest comeback win in the coach
Tom McConnell era … IUP continues to hold a one-game lead over second place Seton Hill (11-1, 6-1) and Gannon (10-3, 6-1) in the division … This was the fourth straight 20-point game for Mascaro (97 points combined), the most since Lindsay Stamp made the same run to start the 2014-15 season (97 points) … McConnell is now 11-3 lifetime against Mercyhurt, including 8-0 at home.
Up next
The Crimson Hawks have their first divisional road game up next with a trip to Slippery Rock (3-11, 1-7) Wednesday night. Tipoff is 5:30 p.m. It's the first of three straight road games for the Crimson Hawks, who also travel to Gannon Saturday and Edinboro next Wednesday.
Follow
For up-to-date information, visit IUPAthletics.com and follow IUP women's basketball on Twitter @IUPCrimsonHawk and @IUP_WBB.
