INDIANA, Pa. - The No. 10 IUP women's basketball team (6-0, 0-0 PSAC) opens its conference schedule this weekend with an eastern roadtrip to face Kutztown (6-2, 0-0 PSAC) on Friday and West Chester (2-3, 0-0 PSAC) on Saturday. Tipoff for both games is 5:30 p.m. The Crimson Hawks ended their non-conference slate unblemished after a 76-61 road win over Ohio Dominican on Sunday. The Golden Bears enter the weekend on a 5-game win streak while the Golden Rams' Monday win over Jefferson ended a 3-game losing streak. 

TIPOFF NOTES
>> Sr. G Courtney Alexander scored a career-high 24 points and made a season-best five 3-pointers on Sunday.
>> Fr. F Gina Adams tallied her first career double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds as four Crimson Hawks scored in double-figures. 
>> The Hawks shot 59.3 percent (16-27) in the 2nd half and finished with a +11 rebound margin. 
>> IUP has won nine straight PSAC openers dating back to the 2011-12 season and has swept five straight PSAC East-West crossover weekends.
>> IUP won seven of eight meetings with Kutztown last decade, including a 72-57 win over the Golden Bears in the 2019 PSAC Championship at KU. The Hawks are 5-1 against the Golden Bears in Kutztown since 2011. 
>> The Hawks have won three straight against West Chester and are 6-2 against the Rams since 2011-12. IUP's margin of victory in those six victories is +18.7. 
>> IUP is 45-6 (.882) in road games over the last five seasons, including 38-6 (.864) in PSAC road games.
>> The Hawks rank 5th in Division II with a defensive FG pct. of .291 and 6th in scoring defense at 47.8. 
>> IUP has held opponents under 50 points four times this year, giving up 60 points just once (ODC, 61). 
>> So. G Maria Cerro is averaging 13.3 PPG with a 59.4 FG% over the last four games after averaging 2.0 PPG with a 33.3 FG% in the first two games of the season. 

WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT THE GOLDEN BEARS
>> Kutztown enters the weekend with a 6-2 record.
>> The Golden Bears have won five straight games, incuding three-in-a-row at home.
>> KU leads the PSAC with 5.88 blocks per game. 

WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT THE GOLDEN RAMS
>> West Chester enters the weekend witha  2-3 record. 
>> The Golden Rams have already played a top-25 team, losing to Glenville State 95-75 on November 14. 
>> WCU has the 4th worst scoring defense in the PSAC, giving up 72.8 PPG. 

IUP IN THE POLLS
>> The Crimson Hawks are No. 10 in both the WBCA Coaches' and D2SIDA Media Polls this week.
>> The Hawks were receiving votes in both preseason polls and jumped up to No. 9 in the media poll after the opening week. 
>> It's the 54th time in the last 55 polls the Hawks have been eligible for that they rank in the top-25, dating back to the 2017-18 preseason poll. 
>> IUP has been ranked in the top-10 in 43 weeks of those 55 possible polls. 

IUP OFF TO ANOTHER UNBEATEN START
>> The Crimson Hawks finished their non-conference schedule with a perfect 6-0 record. 
>> This is the third time in the last four seasons the Hawks went unbeaten in regular season non-league play.
>> The best start in program history was 16 straight wins to open the 1999-00 season. 

IUP DEFENSE HAS BEEN KEY
>> IUP traditionally boasts a strong defense under HC Tom McConnell and this year is no different, ranking 5th in Division II in FG% defense (.291) and 6th in points allowed (47.8). 
>> IUP leads the PSAC in FG% defense and scoring defense, and ranks 3rd in steals (50) and 3FG% defense (.258).
>> The Hawks have held opponents under 50 points three times, and have given up 60+ just once (61, ODC). 
>> Sr. F Maura D'Anna is 4th in the PSAC and 61st in Division II with 1.67 blocks per game. 
>> IUP had a season-high 18 steals against Mount Aloysius, the most since 19 against Shippensburg in Dec. '18.

WINNING THE BATTLE OF THE BOARDS
>> The Hawks lead the PSAC and rank 5th in Division II with a +15.8 rebound margin. 
>> IUP has won the battle of the boards by at least +11 in each game, including +30 against Mount Aloysius.
>> IUP's 44.3 rebounds per game leads the PSAC and ranks 25th in Division II.
>> Fr. F Gina Adams leads IUP with 7.8 RPG while D'Anna is 2nd with 7.7 and Jr. F Teirra Preston is 3rd at 5.3.

ALWAYS LOOKING TO HELP
>> IUP leads the PSAC and ranks 16th in Division II with 17.5 assists per game (105 total)
>> IUP has assisted on 60.3 pct of its 174 made buckets.
>> Six players have double-digit assists, led by Sr. G Courtney Alexander with 20 (3.3 APG).
>> IUP also leads the PSAC in assist-turnover ratio (1.08-1). Alexander is the DII leader in that category at 5.0-1.

MASCARO BRINGS CONSISTENCY
>> Sr. G Justina Mascaro is IUP's top scorer at 14.2 PPG and has led the Hawks in scoring in three of six games.
>> She has six double-figure scoring games, including a season-high 17 against Livingstone.
>> Mascaro is 9th in the PSAC with a 52.3 FG% (34-65) and has shot better than 43 percent in all six outings.
>> She earned first team All-PSAC West honors in her first year at IUP in 2019-20, scoring 14.2 PPG with shooting percentages of .528/.433/.768.

ALEXANDER LOOKS TO CONTINUE BREAKOUT
>> Sr. G Courtney Alexander scored a career-high 24 points in Sunday's win over Ohio Dominican. 
>> She shot 9-17 from the field and 5-13 from deep.
>> Prior to the game Alexander was averaging 7.2 PPG with a 25.5 FG% and a 20.0 3FG%. 
>> Alexander finished the 2019-20 season ranked 3rd in the PSAC and 38th in DII with a 40.1 3FG%. Her 69 3-pointers made is 6th in program history. 

CERRO STEPPING UP IN SECOND SEASON
>> So. G Maria Cerro has proven to be an effective scorer from her point guard position, ranking 3rd in the team with 9.5 PPG through six games.
>> She's averaging 13.3 PPG over her last four games after scoring 4 combined points in the opening two games.
>> Cerro had a career-high 23 points on 7-12 FGs and 7-9 FTs in the win over the Dist. of Columbia.
>> Cerro is also 2nd on the team with 17 assists (2.8 APG) and has just 7 turnovers over the last four games. 

D'ANNA PROVIDES EXPERIENCE IN THE POST
>> Sr. F Maura D'Anna is 4th on the team with 9.3 PPG and 2nd with 7.7 RPG.
>> She tallied her first double-double of the season with 10 points and 11 rebounds vs. Livingstone.
>> She ranks 4th in the PSAC with 1.67 blocks per game, including a career-high 4 against Virginia State.
 
FRESHMEN GETTING IT DONE
>> After sitting out last season due to the pandemic, Fr. F Gina Adams and Fr. G Kiera Baughman have impressed early in their first seasons.
>> Adams is averaging 8.7 PPG and a team-best 7.8 RPG in six starts.
>> She had her first career double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds at Ohio Dominican.
>> Kiera Baughman is averaging 14.2 MPG and is IUP's top bench scorer at 8.3 PPG. 
>> The point guard scored a season-high 16 points in the win over Mount Aloysius.