EDINBORO, Pa. - Despite a 20-point performance from senior guard Justina Mascaro, the IUP women's basketball team dropped a 71-61 decision at Edinboro in their final road game of the regular season on Wednesday night. 

The Crimson Hawks were done in by turnovers and on boards, as Edinboro outscored a combined 32-16 in points off turnovers and second chance points. 

Mascaro finished with 21 points, her third 20-point effort of the season, shooting 9-of-12 from the field with a pair of 3-pointers. She added seven rebounds and a career-high five steals. 

IUP fell to 18-7 overall and remain in fourth place in the PSAC West standings with a 12-7 league record. Edinboro closed the gap in the division standings by improving to 12-9 and 10-8. 

How it happened
The Hawks trailed the entire night but kept it close, ending the first quarter trailing 15-12. Mascaro was on early, going 4-of-5 from the field for eight points. 

A layup-and-one by senior forward Maura D'Anna early in the second quarter cut IUP's deficit to 19-18 but Edinboro responded by going on a 13-4 run to go on top by 10 points. 

The Hawks came back to cut their deficit to three points at 38-35 on a 3-pointer by freshman guard Kiera Baughman in the third quarter, before the Fighting Scots came back to score eight of the next 10 points to get a more comfortable lead. Another IUP run cut the EU lead to 50-48 after a trey by Mascaro with 7:18 left to play. EU's Rana Elhusseini came back with her own 3-pointer to start an 11-4 run as the Fighting Scots got their lead back to nine points. They'd hit their free throws down the stretch to close out the win.

IUP outshot Edinboro 49.1 percent to 41.3 percent, but turned the ball over 19 times and lost the rebounding battle 36-to-28. 

Notes
The Crimson Hawks debuted at No. 8 in the NCAA Division II Atlantic Region rankings reveal earlier in the day ... IUP split its regular season series with Edinboro, winning 76-67 on Jan. 26 ... This loss ended IUP's 8-game win streak over Fighting Scots ... It was IUP's first loss at Edinboro since the 2013-14 season.

Up next
The Crimson Hawks have a three-game home stand to end the regular season, starting with a Saturday night matchup against Seton Hill (20-8, 14-5 PSAC). Tipoff is 5:30 p.m.

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