LOCK HAVEN, Pa. – The Bloomsburg University women's basketball team fell to Lock Haven, 68-53, in its final road Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) contest of the regular season. With the loss, the Huskies evened their record at 12-12 while dropping to 8-10 in PSAC contests and Lock Haven improved to 12-12 on the year and 9-10 in conference games.
 
The Bald Eagles got out in an early lead and never looked back. Other than when the game was scoreless, Bloomsburg was never tied nor did it ever hold the lead. Lock Haven led by as many as 13, 19-6, in the first quarter but a pair of free throws from senior Bella Ricci (Etters, Pa./Red Land) and a jumper from Ricci cut the lead to nine, 19-10, at the end of the first quarter.
 
Bloomsburg cut the lead to five on two separate occasions – 19-14 with 9:15 to play and 21-16 with 8:40 to play – while junior Emma Saxton's (York, Pa./Central York) jumper at 8:15 got the Huskies to within three, 21-18. The three-point deficit would prove to be as close as Bloomsburg would get.
 
Lock Haven pushed its lead to 11, 29-18, with 5:05 to play but the Huskies managed to get back to within seven, 32-25, with 59 seconds left in the quarter. Nadia Romanchock hit a pair of free throws for LHU before Bink Redman ended the half with a jumper to give Lock Haven a 36-25 lead at the break.
 
The Bald Eagles took their largest lead of the game as they led by 17 with 6:23 to play in the third, 47-30, after Jaynelle Robinson made a layup. The Huskies clawed their way back and trimmed the lead down to seven, 49-42, thanks to a layup from Ricci at the end of the quarter.
 
Taylor Leidy opened the fourth quarter with a jumper for LHU and the Bald Eagles eventually regained their 17-point lead, 65-48, with 2:41 to play. After almost two minutes of a scoring drought, Ricci made a layup to cut the gap back to 15, 65-50. Romanchock and Ricci traded threes in the final 30 seconds of action to cap the scoring, 68-53, in favor of Lock Haven.


Ricci led the team with 18 points while Saxton added 17 and a team-best three assists. Senior Taylor Montana (Berwick, Pa./Berwick) and Ricci led the team with six rebounds each. As a team, the Huskies shot 32.8% (19-of-58) from the field and were 3-of-10 from three-point range. The Bald Eagles won the rebounding battle 40-32.

With just two conference games left, Bloomsburg is currently in sixth play in the East and the top six teams from each division make the play offs.
 
Bloomsburg looks to secure its spot in the tournament on Saturday as the Huskies host Shippensburg for their Senior Day Celebration and Think Pink Game. Tip-off is scheduled for 1:00 p.m.

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