Women's Basketball | 4/1/2015 9:38:00 AM
Complete Final WBCA/USA Today Division II Top 25
BLOOMSBURG – The Bloomsburg University women's basketball team finishes the season with its highest Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA)/USA Today Sports Division II Top 25 ranking since 1991, slotting at No. 11 in the final poll of the season released Tuesday afternoon.
National champion California (PA) tops the list with its 32-4 record ahead of California Baptist (29-7), Limestone (34-2), Emporia State (29-5) and Lewis (31-3). Among PSAC teams, Cal is No. 1; Bloomsburg No. 11 and IUP No. 23.
Bloomsburg has finished the season ranking higher just twice in program history – the Huskies were ninth at the conclusion of the 1990-91 campaign and No. 1 in the last poll of the 1988-89 season.
The Huskies finished the 2014-15 season with a 26-5 overall record including a 20-2 mark in PSAC play.
It was another banner year for the Huskies. Bloomsburg won the PSAC Eastern Division title outright for the fifth straight year, becoming the first PSAC East team to have that long of a reign at the top. The Huskies also became the first PSAC East team to reach the regional final in back-to-back years, advancing to the Atlantic Regional Championship Game with another trip to the national Sweet 16 following NCAA Tournament wins over Gannon and Shepherd (West Va.). Bloomsburg then gave eventual national champion California (PA) its biggest test of the NCAA Tournament, taking the Vulcans to overtime before falling short on the road, 72-69, in the regional championship.
The 26 wins tie the 2013-14, 2011-12 and 1990-91 teams for the second-most victories in school history behind only the 28 wins of the 1988-89 squad.
Bloomsburg was led by PSAC East Athlete of the Year Marla Simmons (Lebanon/Cedar Crest), who averaged 14.4 points per game and became the fourth Huskies player to be named the PSAC East's top player in the past five seasons.
The Huskies ranked among the nation's top 25 in several statistical categories – three-point field goal percentage (37.9 percent, ninth); turnover margin (+4.8, 17th); scoring margin (+13.1, 19th); assists per game (15.9, 22nd) and free throw percentage (76.3 percent, 24th).
Head coach Bill Cleary's squad has captured 102 victories over the past four years, the most over any four-year stretch in school history.
