California Pulls Out Dramatic Win Over IUP in Battle of Regionally-Ranked Teams

Boxscore and play-by-play

Lisa Gottuso made four free throws to give California the lead, and IUP missed two 3-pointers in the waning seconds as the Vulcans downed IUP by a score of 55-52 Wednesday night at Memorial Field House.

With the loss, IUP dropped to 15-8 overall and 4-4 in the PSAC West while California remained undefeated in eight division games and improved to 19-4 overall.

California entered the game ranked third in the latest NCAA East Region poll, which came out Wednesday afternoon.  IUP is sixth in the region.  The Vulcans have won 12 in a row over IUP.

Jahzinga Tracey led IUP with 16 points and five rebounds.  Staci Heberling and Lauren Fisher both had nine points, with Fisher dishing out six assists and Heberling making four steals.

Gottuso led all scorers with 18 points while pulling down eight boards.  Kim Nowakowski had 10 points and seven rebounds, and Megan Storck and Brehane Dillon combined for 11 assists.

California won despite committing 28 turnovers, 15 of which came on IUP steals.  The Vulcans did shoot 47.8 percent from the field, held the Indians to 32.8 percent accuracy and won the battle of the glass by a 42-31 margin.

IUP failed to make a 3-pointer in eight tries, including misses by Lizzie Suwala and Mame Brumbaugh in the final five seconds, the latter as the final buzzer sounded.

IUP led 27-26 at halftime and expanded its cushion to 38-32 on a layup by Julie Gallo with 15:33 left in the game.  The contest then featured a pair of runs, beginning with a 15-2 Vulcan surge that put the visitors ahead 47-40 with 11:29 on the clock.

Two free throws by Storck had California ahead 49-44 with 5:09 left before IUP made its final run of the game.  Heberling and Fisher brought the Indians to within 49-48, and Tracey put IUP ahead by a point with a steal and basket with 3:20 left.

Dillon put California back ahead, 51-50, with a jumper at the 2:50 mark, and there was no further scoring until Heberling made two from the line with 48 seconds left to give IUP its final lead of the game.

Dillon then made two free throws with 34 seconds left and, after Brumbaugh stepped on the baseline for a turnover, she made two more with 18 ticks left.  IUP saw its final two shots miss wide of the mark.

IUP will look to snap a two-game losing streak on Saturday at Shippensburg in a 1:00 game.