Charleston Races Away from IUP as Season Resumes Following Holiday Break

Complete game stats and play-by-play

Playing for the first time in two weeks following the holiday break, IUP could not find its shooting touch and suffered a 79-56 loss to Charleston Tuesday night at Memorial Field House.

The defeat was the fourth straight for IUP, which dropped to 5-6 on the year while Charleston improved to 10-2.  The loss was the first at home for the Indians after five straight victories.

Two Charleston players recorded double-doubles, with Lisa Lee scoring 14 points and grabbing 12 rebounds and Courtney Thomas adding 12 points and 11 boards.  Thomas missed a triple-double by just one assist.

Rachael Pike scored 13 points, Laura Kinsler tallied 12 and Emily Jones finished with 11.

Emily McMahan came off the bench to lead IUP with 14 points.  Katie Glaws scored 11 and Molly Miller had 10 points and pulled down 11 rebounds for her fourth double-double of the season.

IUP shot just 24.1 percent, connecting on 19 of 79 from the field, and converted only 5 of 25 from three-point distance.  The Indians lost despite taking 24 more shots than the Golden Eagles and forcing 26 Charleston turnovers, with Kara Taylor making four of IUP's 14 steals.

IUP never led in the game, falling behind by as many as 16 in the first half before going into the locker room trailing 34-22.  The Indians then began the second half scoring six of the first eight points to pull to within 36-28 on a layup by Glaws.

Charleston rebuilt its margin to 15 on four occasions, including 51-36 with 13:49 remaining following a Kinsler three-point play off her own offensive rebound.  IUP then made its last surge of the game, with a three-point basket by McMahan making it 55-44 at the 10:40 mark.

From that point on, the Golden Eagles dominated play.  Charleston held IUP scoreless for a 4:10 span, scoring the game's next 12 points to take a 67-44 lead on a layup by Lee following a steal and assist by Erica McElroy with 6:30 left in the contest.  IUP got no closer than 19 the rest of the way.

IUP plays a pair of PSAC crossover games this weekend, hosting Mansfield on Saturday and East Stroudsburg on Sunday.  Both contests at Memorial Field House begin at 1:00.