WEST CHESTER, Pa. - The 10th-ranked IUP women's basketball team was forced to rally from an early first quarter deficit and hung on late as the Crimson Hawks defeated upset-minded West Chester 64-62 Saturday night.
It was the second win of PSAC-opening weekend for the Crimson Hawks, who improved to 8-0 overall on the year.
For the second straight game the Hawks trailed by double-digits at the end of the first quarter, but outscored the Golden Rams a combined 43-24 in the second and third quarters en route to the comeback victory.
IUP shot just 2-10 from the field and turned the ball over six times in the first 10 minutes. West Chester was hot early, going 8-14 from the field with four 3-pointers to get out to a 20-5 lead. Later down 24-5, the Hawks scored seven straight points and followed by a 9-0 run as they went into the half down 29-23.
A 3-pointer by senior guard
Courtney Alexander opened the second half for the Hawks, who then grabbed a 32-29 lead two minutes later after another trey by Alexander. She scored 11 points in the quarter and freshman guard
Kiera Baughman came off the bench to score six as IUP outscored WCU 25-15 and took a 48-44 lead into the fourth quarter.
The Rams came back to take a 57-52 lead with 4:35 to play, but an 11-2 IUP run gave the Hawks a 63-59 lead with 18 seconds to play.
West Chester's Leah Johnson knocked down a three to cut the deficit to one and after Baughman split a pair at the line, the Rams had a look at the win but the shot rimmed out and IUP hung on.
Who stood out
Alexander had another big night, scoring a game-high 18 points on 6-12 shooting. She finished 5-11 from 3-point range and wrapped up her weekend averaging 23.0 points per game with 13 treys.
Baughman finished with 12 points and three assists in 22 minutes. Junior forward
Rajah Fink also provided a spark off the bench with 12 points, four rebounds and four assists in 26 minutes. Senior forward
Maura D'Anna grabbed eight rebounds, swiped three steals and blocked two shots.
Notes
IUP entered the game ranked No. 10 in the WBCA Coaches and No. 10 in the D2SIDA Media Top 25 polls ... The Hawks have won four straight in the series and are 7-2 against the Rams since the 2011-12 season ... IUP lost the rebounding battle for the first time all season, 34-32 ... This was IUP's closest win of the season ... IUP is 47-6 in road games over the last five seasons, including 40-6 in PSAC road games.
Up next
The Crimson Hawks are off next week and return to the court with three home games the week of December 13. They'll host Millersville Tuesday, Shepherd Saturday and Shippensburg Sunday.
Follow
For up-to-date information, visit IUPAthletics.com and follow IUP women's basketball on Twitter @IUPCrimsonHawk and @IUP_WBB.
