ERIE, Pa. – Sophomore Rajah Fink scored a career-high 20 points to help IUP women's basketball to win No. 20 on the year as the fifth-ranked Crimson Hawks defeated Mercyhurst 73-59 Saturday afternoon.
 
The win stretched the program record to 18 straight and the Crimson Hawks became the first team in the Atlantic Region to reach 20 victories on the year. IUP is now 20-1 overall and 15-0 in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC), holding a two-game lead over second place Gannon (17-4, 13-2).
 
Looking to pull the upset at home, the Lakers (5-16, 5-10) held steady with IUP and trailed by three at 18-15 after the first quarter of play. Fink saw the court early as forward Maura D'Anna committed two fouls just over one minute into the game.
 
Fink took advantage of the Lakers defense quickly, scoring six points in her first three minutes on the court. Redshirt junior guard Courtney Alexander, seeing her second straight start, bookended the quarter with buckets.
 
Fink scored on back-to-back possessions to start the second quarter and senior guard Natalie Myers, the nation's leading 3-point shooter, hit her first trey of the game as IUP went on a quick 8-2 run. D'Anna reentered and quickly picked up five points on two possessions and Fink scored again to give the Hawks a 14-point lead at 33-19 midway through the quarter.
 
IUP went on to score 23 points in the second and take a 41-26 lead at halftime. It was a drastic change from the season's first meeting in Indiana when Mercyhurst led 28-20 after the first two quarters.
 
A 3-pointer by Myers gave the Hawks a 51-31 lead four minutes into the second half. They later ended the third quarter on a 13-5 run with junior guard Justina Mascaro converting buckets on back-to-back possessions to give IUP its biggest lead of 25 points heading to the fourth.
 
Mercyhurst did outscore the Hawks in the final quarter but it was too little, too late for the upset bid.
 
IUP was on the plus side of the rebounding margin for the eighth straight game, grabbing 36 boards to the Lakers' 23. With Mercyhurst tightly guarding the Hawks at the 3-point like, they turned their attention to the inside to score 42 points in the paint. IUP still went 5-of-11 from 3-point range.
 
Who stood out
Fink shot 7-of-15 from the field and 6-of-7 from the foul line, adding four rebounds in 32 minutes off the bench. She became the fifth IUP player this year to score 20 points in a game as the Hawks improved to 12-0 when someone posts a 20-point performance.
 
Mascaro scored 16 points on 6-of-10 shooting. She did most of her damage in the second half with 11 points, including nine in the third quarter. Senior forward Lexi Griggs scored 11 points and Alexander was also in double-figures with 10.
 
Myers scored just nine points on 3-of-5 shooting with a pair of 3-pointers, but grabbed nine rebounds and had four assists.
 
Notes
The Crimson Hawks entered the game ranked No. 5 in the WBCA Top 25 and No. 7 in the D2SIDA Media Top 25 polls … IUP swept the regular season series with Mercyhurst for the second straight year and fourth time in Coach McConnell's seven seasons ... McConnell is now 12-3 lifetime against the Lakers … IUP remained undefeated on the road this season at 10-0.
 
Up next
The Crimson Hawks are off for a week before returning to action next Saturday at home against Slippery Rock (5-16, 3-12). It's IUP basketball alumni night at the KCAC with tipoff at 5:30 p.m.
 
Follow
For up-to-date game information, visit IUPAthletics.com and follow IUP women's basketball on Twitter @IUPCrimsonHawk and @IUP_WBB.