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IUP Builds Big Lead and Holds On at Slippery Rock to Tie Regular Season Win Record

Boxscore and play-by-play

IUP tied the school record for regular season victories and moved to within one win of its second straight PSAC West title, leading wire-to-wire in a 71-59 decision over Slippery Rock Wednesday night at Morrow Field House.

The Crimson Hawks improved to 23-2 and 8-1 in the PSAC West with their fifth straight win.  The 23 wins match the 1999-00 team which went 23-3 in the regular season.  The overall record for wins in a season came in 1998-99 when IUP finished 26-6 and won the East Region title.

Slippery Rock lost its seventh in a row and dropped to 7-17 overall and 1-8 in the PSAC West.  IUP has won nine of the past 12 meetings against The Rock and completed a season sweep this season.

Jahzinga Tracey led IUP with 18 points and became IUP’s second all-time leading scorer with 1,383 points, passing Jan Lightcap.  With eight field goals, Tracey also moved into second place in that category with 583, two more than Terri Piatak.  Tracey added five rebounds, three assists, three steals and two blocks on Wednesday.

Hillary Shope and Kylie Miller both had 14 points to give IUP three players in double figures and Miller tied Kierstin Filla with four steals as the Crimson Hawks made 14 swipes in the game.  Filla also had eight points and led IUP with six rebounds and six assists.  Staci Heberling also finished with eight points.

Sandra Busser and Dana Stewart both had 12 points to lead Slippery Rock while Haley Gaidosh had 11 and KellyAnn Staudinger tallied 10.  Amanda Nero, who hit six 3-pointers and scored 30 points in the first meeting against IUP, was held to eight points and made only 3 of 12 field goal attempts.

The Crimson Hawks appeared to be on their way to an easy win, scoring the first 11 points and ultimately leading by as many as 17 before settling for a 34-19 lead at halftime.  Tracey and Shope both scored 10 points during the opening 20 minutes.

But the second half was a different story as Slippery Rock twice rallied to threaten the IUP lead.  Miller scored the first three baskets after intermission for IUP to keep the lead at 16, and a 3-pointer by Eryn Withers with 14:33 remaining had the Crimson Hawks in front 45-30.  But The Rock scored the next eight points in a span of 2:36 with a layup by Busser making it 45-38 with 11:46 left.

A jumper by Filla ended the Slippery Rock run and ignited a 10-0 IUP surge as Slippery Rock committed turnovers on six consecutive possessions.  A jumper by Lacey Claar capped the run and left the Crimson Hawks in front 55-38 with 8:34 left, but Slippery Rock scored 14 of the next 18 points and a 3-point play by Stewart made it 59-52 at the 4:53 mark.

The Crimson Hawks did not allow Slippery Rock to get much closer although they were never able to put the game out of reach until the final minute.  Heberling scored two straight baskets, the first off her own offensive rebound, to make it 63-52 with 2:40 to play.  The Rock was able to get its deficit down to six twice more before IUP made all six of its free throws to seal the win.

IUP hosts California on Saturday in its annual Alumni Day event.  Returning alumni will play at 11 a.m. at Memorial Field House, and the Crimson Hawks host the Vulcans at 5:30 that evening.  IUP will be looking for a regular season sweep over California for the first time since 1998-99 after snapping an eight-game losing skid at Hamer Hall with a 65-57 overtime win on February 2.

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