IUP Rally Falls Short in Loss to Shippensburg

Complete game stats and play-by-play

IUP rallied from 17 down early in the second half to eventually get within two, but the Indians could not get over the hump in dropping a 64-59 decision to Shippensburg Saturday at Memorial Field House. 

The loss was the fourth in a row for IUP (9-15, 2-7) and all but ended its hopes for a berth in the PSAC playoffs.  Shippensburg improved to 14-8 and 5-3 in the division, solidifying its hold on third place.

Molly Miller led IUP with 12 points while Mame Brumbaugh, Katie Glaws and Kara Taylor each scored 11.  Courtnay Rattigan had a team-high six rebounds.

Jennifer Scaffidi led Shippensburg with 28 points.  Kim Strickland had 12 points and 12 rebounds and Megan Fogle had 12 points and seven assists.  Casey Reath finished with 10 boards.

IUP took a 20-19 lead on a putback by Miller with 4:23 left in the first half before Shippensburg scored 14 of the next 16 points, including a pair of three-pointers by Scaffidi, to take its largest lead of the half at 33-22.  A basket by Glaws with 12 seconds remaining made it 33-24 at the break.

The Raiders wasted little time in expanding their cushion at the outset of the second half.  Scaffidi made another three and hit a jumper in the first 54 seconds of the period, and a long range shot by Fogle made it 41-24 with 18:30 left in the game.

But the IUP defense got the Indians back in the game, holding Shippensburg scoreless over the next seven minutes.  Three-pointers by Glaws and Brumbaugh and a layup by Julie Gallo got IUP within 41-33, and the deficit stayed between seven and nine points until two free throws by Rattigan made it 47-42 with 6:12 left.

Taylor was fouled on her driving layup and converted the three-point play to get IUP to 49-45 with 5:24 remaining.  Taylor made two more charity tosses at the 3:30 mark to nearly complete the comeback, getting the Indians within 51-49.

Shippensburg responded by scoring the next six points, with Strickland making a jumper and free throws and Shanna Oaddams adding three points from the line.  Trailing 57-49 with under two minutes left, IUP again battled back, with a basket by Emily McMahan off her own offensive rebound making it 60-57 with 31 ticks left.

Scaffidi made two from the line to make it a five-point game, but Taylor hit two of three free throws after being fouled behind the arc with 17 seconds left to make the score 62-59.  After Strickland converted two six seconds later, IUP missed a pair of three-pointers in the closing seconds to enable Shippensburg to escape with the win.

IUP travels to Edinboro on Wednesday and faces an absolute must-win situation if it is to have any hopes of landing a playoff spot.  The Indians handed the Fighting Scots a 55-45 defeat in Indiana on January 26.