INDIANA, Pa. - Senior guard Justina Mascaro scored a season-high 18 points on an efficient shooting night to lead the No. 8 IUP women's basketball team to a dominating 70-40 win over Millersville Tuesday night at the Kovalchick Complex. 

The win was the ninth straight to start the season for the Crimson Hawks, who are now 9-0 overall and have a 3-0 start to Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) play. 

Mascaro shot 6-of-7 from the floor and went 6-of-7 from the free throw line to go along with five rebounds in just 22 minutes of action. Freshman guard Kiera Baughman came off the bench to score 11 points with three 3-pointers and senior guard Courtney Alexander added 10 points. 

All 13 Hawks saw the floor with 10 scoring during the balanced win. 

How it happened
The Crimson Hawks hit 9-of-16 shots and had a 12-to-5 rebounding advantage in the first quarter alone to get out to a 22-9 lead after 10 minutes. The IUP defense was hard at work forcing five turnovers, as Baughman, sophomore guard Maria Cerro, junior guard Rajah Fink, and senior forward Maura D'Anna each came up with steals. 

The lead reached as high as 22 still in the second quarter with the help of a 12-2 run that saw junior forward Alana Cardona come off the bench to score five points. IUP outrebounded Millersville by 14 and outshot the Marauders 48 percent to 30 percent in the first half to take a 36-17 lead at the break. 

MU tried clawing back into the game during the third quarter, cutting its deficit to 14 points at 42-28 with 4:06 to go. But IUP quickly got its lead back to 20 points then cruised in the fourth quarter to earn the 30-point win. 

Notes
IUP entered the game ranked No. 8 in the WBCA Coaches and No. 6 in the D2SIDA Media Top 25 polls ... The 30-point win was the thirdlargest for the Hawks this season (66, Mount Aloysius; 32, Livingstone) ... Millersville shot 27.8 percent from the floor, the fifth IUP opponent in nine games to be held below 30 percent ... The Hawks hit season-highs for free throws made (18) and free throws attempted (24) ... IUP improved to 6-0 at home this year and is 89-9 at home since the 2014-15 season ... IUP is also 60-6 at home against PSAC schools during that same time period.

Up next
The Crimson Hawks have two tough home contests on tap for this weekend, hosting Shippensburg (6-3, 2-1 PSAC) on Saturday and Shepherd (9-0, 3-0 PSAC) on Sunday. Both games tip at 1 p.m. at the Kovalchick Complex.

Follow
For up-to-date information, visit IUPAthletics.com and follow IUP women's basketball on Twitter @IUPCrimsonHawk and @IUP_WBB.