Box Score (PDF)

BLOOMSBURG – The Bloomsburg University women's basketball team earned the right to host the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference championship weekend at Nelson Field House, but it was California (PA) senior Kaitlynn Fratz who looked right at home Saturday afternoon, scoring 32 points to lead the Vulcans to a 63-48 win in the PSAC semifinals.

The 18th-ranked Vulcans (25-4), the No. 2 seed from the Western Division, advance to play in Sunday's PSAC Championship Game vs. West Chester (24-4) at Nelson Field House. West Chester upset No. 7 IUP, the top seed from the West, 63-59, behind a game-high 26 points by junior guard Dallas Ely.

Bloomsburg (24-4), ranked No. 12 in the nation and top seed from the East, won the only meeting of the season between the two teams, 68-56 at home on Jan. 4, when Fratz finished with 13 points. The senior guard surpassed that total well before halftime Saturday, netting 22 points on 7-of-11 shooting during the first half alone.

The Huskies tried to weather the Fratz storm, led early on by Adreana Sadowski (Fleetwood/Brandywine Heights) who registered eight of Bloomsburg's first 12 points.

The teams shared five ties and exchanged the lead seven times during the first half, but a jumper from Miki Glenn shortly before the buzzer gave the Vulcans a 34-27 advantage at intermission.

Out of the break, Morgan Klunk (Felton/York Catholic) scored the first points of the second half with a bucket off the glass in the lane to cut the BU deficit to five, 34-29.

California's Emma Mahady and Jocelyn Ford (Lansing, NY/Lansing) exchanged 3-pointers on alternating possessions, but Bloomsburg would never get any closer. Fratz scored the next four points to start a surge that pushed the Cal lead to 45-32 with 13:49 remaining.

Klunk continued to work inside and a pair of layups by the sophomore guard got Bloomsburg within single digits again at 47-38 with 10:13 to go, but then Glenn gave the Vulcans a 1-2 scoring punch to complement Fratz with six straight points, keeping the lead in double digits.

Fratz gave Cal complete control with a running one-hander for a 57-41 lead with 6:26 remaining.

That lead looked monumental considering the pressure defense the Vulcans deployed all afternoon, not allowing the Huskies to build any type of rhythm offensively.
Bloomsburg never could establish an outside game, scoring 34 of its 48 points in the paint and going just 3-of-9 from beyond the arc while shooting 35.6 percent for the game (21-of-59).

Despite the offensive display from Fratz, Bloomsburg still held the Vulcans to 38.6 percent shooting (22-of-57) on the day, but the real difference came at the foul line where California converted 15 of 17 tries at the stripe and Bloomsburg went just 3-of-6.

Fratz scored the most points of any Huskies opposing player this year, finishing with 32 points and five rebounds. Glenn totaled 16 points and eight boards with Mahady chipping in with eight points and seven rebounds.

For Bloomsburg, Sadowski registered 13 points and seven rebounds with Marla Simmons (Lebanon/Cedar Crest) totaling 12 points and six boards. Klunk also had eight points and Taylor Kaminski (Philadelphia/Archbishop Wood) posted eight points and four rebounds.

Bloomsburg now awaits its NCAA Tournament fate with the announcement of the Division II field on Sunday night at 10 p.m. on NCAA.com. The top eight teams from the Atlantic Region will advance to the Atlantic Regional. Bloomsburg ranked No. 3 and Cal was fourth in the last rankings released earlier this week. No. 2 seed IUP was upset by West Chester, ranked sixth, earlier in the day.

GAME NOTES: Bloomsburg finished with just five points off turnovers. The Huskies had scored double digit points off turnovers in all but one game this year, scoring a previous low of nine in a January win at Shippensburg ... No opposing player had scored more than 25 points against the Huskies this year ... Saturday's loss snapped a six-game home postseason winning streak for BU ... The three made free throws and six free throw attempts were both season lows ... The Huskies made their fifth straight appearance in the PSAC Final Four ... Bloomsburg seeks its fourth straight NCAA Tournament bid with the announcement of the field on Sunday.