MANSFIELD, Pa. – The Bloomsburg University women's basketball team seemingly had things well in hand on Saturday afternoon at Decker Gymnasium. But, the Mansfield Mountaineers had other ideas.
 
Leading by 13 heading to the fourth quarter, the Huskies were outscored, 23-6, in the final ten-minute period and dropped a 65-61 decision to the Mountaineers to suffer their third consecutive loss. Bloomsburg dropped to 12-9 overall and 9-8 in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Eastern Division. Mansfield, meanwhile, improved to 5-15 overall and 3-14 in league play.
 
Redshirt senior Adreana Sadowski (Fleetwood/Brandywine Heights) led the Huskies with 20 points, eight rebounds, and three blocks while freshman Julia Gantz (Havertown/Archbishop John Carroll) added 15 points – just three points shy of her career high and her third double-digit scoring output of the season. The 20-point effort from Sadowski was her fourth such game of the year.
 
The three-game losing streak is the first for the Huskies since dropping three in a row from February 17 to February 24, 2010
 
It was just Bloomsburg's 11th loss in 70 career meetings against the Mountaineers and it snapped a 16-game winning streak for the Huskies in the overall series. Prior to Saturday, Mansfield's last win over Bloomsburg came on February 4, 2009 – a 52-46 decision at Decker Gymnasium.
 
Bloomsburg jumped out to a 9-0 advantage in the opening two minutes after getting four points from Sadowski, three from junior Alex Ross (Lancaster/Manheim Township), and two from Morgan Klunk (Felton/York Catholic) during the spurt. Mansfield's Katie Fitzpatrick, who led the Mountaineers with 20 points, got the home team on the scoreboard with a basket 2:30 into the opening quarter.
 
The Huskies ended the first quarter with a 19-10 advantage and then extended the lead in the second quarter to take a 40-27 advantage into the locker room at halftime.
 
The Mountaineers and the Huskies exchanged big runs in the third quarter, but the period ended the way it started with Bloomsburg leading by 13, 55-42. In the third, Mansfield closed the gap to two with a 13-2 run in the opening 5:43 of the quarter. Over the final 4:17, however, Bloomsburg answered with a 13-2 spurt of its own, ending with a Gantz three-pointer in the closing seconds.
 
Mansfield did not start its comeback in the fourth until Becky Evans nailed a three-pointer with 8:25 left. Fitzpatrick followed with back-to-back baskets before Sadowski stopped the bleeding, momentarily, with a layup to extend the Bloomsburg lead to eight, 57-49, with 6:53 remaining. After the Sadowski hoop, Mansfield scored 11 of the game's next 13 points and, after Evans hit another triple with 3:48 left, the hosts had their first lead of the game, 60-59. Mansfield would not relinquish the advantage as it scored five of the last seven points to win by four.
 
Sadowski and Gantz combined to shoot 16-of-25 from the field with Gantz also nailing three of the team's five three-pointers. As a team, however, the Huskies were 26-of-60 (43.3%) from the field but just 5-of-24 (20.8%) from three-point range. Mansfield, meanwhile, shot only 36.9% from the floor but outrebounded the Huskies, 41-34, and had 15 offensive rebounds in the victory.
 
Bloomsburg will look to snap the skid when it hosts Kutztown at the Nelson Field House on Wednesday, February 10. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.