INDIANA, Pa. – The Bloomsburg University women's basketball team suffered its first Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) loss this afternoon as the Huskies fell to #16 IUP, 66-52, Saturday. Bloomsburg dropped to 1-2 on the year and 0-1 in conference action while the Crimson Hawks improved to 4-1 for the season and 1-0 in the PSAC.
 
Junior Emma Saxton (York, Pa./Central York) led the Huskies with a season-best 18 points after going 7-for-18 from the field and was 4-for-6 from the free throw line. Saxton also handed out a pair of assists while pulling down three rebounds. Senior Taylor Montana (Berwick, Pa./Berwick) posted 15 points while leading the team with six rebounds. Junior Megan Brandt (Lebanon, Pa./Northern Lebanon) dished out a team-best four assists while adding three steals to her five points.
 
Justina Mascaro led all players with 21 points while Mikayla Lovelace added another 11 points and a team-best seven rebounds for IUP. Natalie Myers finished the day with seven points, seven rebounds and seven assists.
 
Payton Spadaccino (Ivyland, Pa./Council Rock South) scored the first two points of the game as she finished a layup after an IUP turnover just 49 seconds into action but the Crimson Hawks answered on their next trip down the floor to tie it at 2-2. Montana grabbed a defensive board before taking it down the court for a jumper to give the Huskies a 4-2 lead with 8:16 to play in the first but that would be the last lead for Bloomsburg in the game. IUP quickly tied it before take a four-point lead, 8-4, with 5:35 on the clock. The Huskies kept it close for most of the first before the Hawks used a 14-8 run to close out the quarter and take a 22-12 lead at the first intermission.
 
Montana cut the lead back down to single digits, 22-14, with a pair of free throws in the first 17 seconds of the second quarter and the Huskies were able to pull within four, 22-18, with a layup from Montana at the 8:21 mark. The four-point gap was as close as the Huskies would get, however, as IUP pushed its lead back to 10 with 3:28 to play in the first half, 32-22. A pair of free throws from Montana got the Huskies to within eight, 32-24, but they couldn't seem to put a run together and trailed 36-28 at halftime.
 
IUP immediately pushed its lead back to 10, 38-28, and eventually took a 12-point lead, 45-33, with 5:15 to play, its largest to that point. The Huskies got the deficit back to single digits, 48-39, with 2:50 to play in the third with a layup from Montana, but the Crimson Hawks used an 8-3 run to close out the quarter to lead 56-41 going into the final frame.
 
A steal and made jumper in the first minute of action from Lovelace pushed the IUP lead to 17, a advantage the Crimson Hawks would hold three more times in the quarter. Trailing 66-49 with 3:24 to play, freshman Megan Fisher (New Holland, Pa./Garden Spot) hit a jumper to get the Huskies to within 15, 66-51. Meghan Corridoni (Exeter, Pa./Holy Redeemer) hit the back end of a trip to the free throw line with 54 seconds to play to get within 14, but the Hawks defense prevented any more Huskies scoring and sealed the 66-52 win.
 
The Huskies shot 47.6% as a team (20-for-42) while IUP shot 43.8% (28-for-64) for the day. The Hawks won the rebounding battle 36-24.
 
The Huskies have a short turn around as they get right back on the court on Saturday as Bloomsburg takes on Seton Hill University at 1:00 p.m. in Greensburg, Pa. The Griffins are currently 4-0 after defeating Mansfield for their first PSAC win of the season.