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EAST STROUDSBURG – The Bloomsburg University women's basketball team clinched the 2013 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Eastern Division title for the third straight season Wednesday night with an 86-57 win over East Stroudsburg University at Koehler Fieldhouse.
 
The Huskies (21-5, 17-5 PSAC) enter the PSAC tournament as the No. 1 seed and have the potential to host the semifinals on Mar. 8-9. They have a first round bye in the PSAC tournament and play the winner of Saturday's game between West Chester and Kutztown at Nelson Field House on Tuesday, Mar. 5 at a time to be determined.
 
“The team is very excited, especially our seniors,” head coach Bill Cleary said after the team found out they won the PSAC eastern title outright. “For them to go out as champs in three consecutive years speaks to the program. This was our first set of goals we set for ourselves in the beginning of the season. Now we have to progress through our checklist and get ready for Tuesday.”
 
Four players scored in double figures as Bloomsburg shot 49.2 percent from the field, the highest since it shot 54.5 percent at Mansfield on Jan. 23.  Senior guard Dana Wieller (Bethlehem/Liberty) scored a game-high 17 points with four assists, three three-pointers, and two steals. Senior forward Lauren Ellis (Bangor/Bangor) notched her team-leading sixth double-double of the season with 13 points and 11 rebounds.
 
Junior guard Catherine Noack (Bethlehem/Liberty) sank four three-pointers on her way to 12 points. She also grabbed six rebounds with three assists and a steal. Senior guard Alyssa Flanagan (Freeland/Hazleton Area) rounded out the quartet of double figure scorers with 10 points. She made both of her three-point attempts with three assists.
 
As a team, the Huskies shot 11-for-24 (45.8 percent) from three-point range, the most since it made 17 against Clarion on Jan. 12. Bloomsburg also dished out 25 assists, the second-most of the season behind its 26 against Philadelphia on Dec. 30. Led by Wieller's and Kayla Oxenrider (Ashland/Tri-Valley)'s four assists apiece, 11 of the 14 Huskies who played Wednesday night recorded an assist.
 
“We did a very good job of attacking their zone and applying pressure in the middle,” Cleary said. “We made some good passes and had great success with some baskets in transition. Our offensive transition along with a great shooting performance was big for us tonight.”
 
Bloomsburg led from start to finish against East Stroudsburg.  Beginning with Oxenrider's free throw at the 19:22 mark of the first half, Bloomsburg opened the game on a 14-2 run in the first 4:13 of play.
 
ESU responded with a 10-2 run to cut the lead to six at 18-12 with 10:18 to play, however, the Huskies put together a 20-6 run to extend the lead to 20 at 38-18 with 5:22 to play in the first half. The Warriors put together a late run, but Bloomsburg took a 16-point, 47-31 lead into the locker room.
 
Bloomsburg opened the second half on a 13-3 run to take a 60-34 lead less than four minutes into the second half. The lead did not drop less than 20 points the remainder of the game as Bloomsburg held a game-high 31-point lead on multiple occasions in the final minutes.
 
The Warriors were held to 30.2 percent shooting and just 3-for-11 from three-point range. Jessica Martin was the only ESU player to reach double figures with a 10-point, nine-rebound effort. Ryann Fiascki and Fayola Moise each chipped in nine points.
 
Bloomsburg will remain at Nelson Field House for the entire PSAC playoffs beginning on Tuesday, Mar. 5 against either Kutztown or West Chester. Game time for the quarterfinal will be determined later this week.