BLOOMSBURG, Pa. - The Bloomsburg University women's basketball team used a smothering defense and a huge second quarter to knock off visiting East Stroudsburg University, 63-46, at the Nelson Field House on Wednesday night for its second consecutive victory. The Huskies evened their record at 10-10 overall and improved to 7-9 in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Eastern Division while the Warriors dropped to 14-8 overall and 10-6 against divisional foes.

The 46 points scored by East Stroudsburg marked the fewest the Huskies have allowed to an opponent this season and was the lowest given up since a 64-31 win over Mansfield on February 27, 2019.

Senior Taylor Montana (Berwick, Pa./Berwick), who was honored pre-game for becoming the 25th member of the 1,000-point club in program history when she accomplished the feat at Kutztown last Wednesday, led the Huskies with 16 points on 8-of-10 shooting from the field. It marked her third straight double-digit scoring performance after hitting double figures only once in her previous nine games. Junior Emma Saxton (York, Pa./Central York) had 14 points (7-of-10 from the field) and a career-high seven assists while senior Bella Ricci (Etters, Pa./Red Land) also reached double figures in scoring as she chipped in with 11 points and four dimes.
 
After both teams notched 12 points in the opening quarter, the Huskies outscored the Warriors, 21-6, in the second quarter to take a commanding 33-18 lead at halftime. Bloomsburg went 9-of-11 from the field in the second stanza while holding East Stroudsburg to just a 1-of-16 shooting performance over the same ten-minute span.

The Huskies scored the opening seven points of the quarter - on back-to-back layups from Saxton and a triple from freshman Megan Fisher (New Holland, Pa./Garden Spot) - to take a 19-12 lead with 7:19 left in the opening half. East Stroudsburg's Sadie Cresswell hit the team's lone field goal of the quarter - a three-pointer - to trim the Huskies' lead to 19-15 before Bloomsburg went on another 7-0 run to push the margin to 26-15 with 4:09 remaining. Montana and Fisher accounted for all seven points during the spurt. After a pair of foul shots from the Warriors' Tiffany Lapotsky, Bloomsburg closed the half on a 7-1 run to take the 15-point lead into intermission. Ricci, Saxton, and redshirt junior Meghan Corridoni (Exeter, Pa./Holy Redeemer) combined for the points during the final burst of the half.

East Stroudsburg could not recover from the second quarter despite opening the third with the first five points to close the gap to 33-23. But, the ten-point margin would be as close as the Warriors would come as the Huskies eventually built the margin to 55-33 with 7:37 left in regulation, which was aided by a 14-3 run over a seven-minute span that started at the end of the third and carried over into the fourth. East Stroudsburg made one last run by scoring seven consecutive points to cut the deficit to 55-40 with three minutes left, but the Huskies closed out the night by outscoring the Warriors, 8-6, in the closing minutes to earn the 17-point victory.

Corridoni finished with eight points while Fisher had six in a combined 22 minutes off the bench. Junior Megan Brandt (Lebanon, Pa./Northern Lebanon), redshirt junior Lauren Oeth (Doylestown, Pa./Germantown Academy), and junior Payton Spadaccino (Ivyland, Pa./Council Rock South) combined for the other eight points on the evening.

Bloomsburg shot 29-of-48 (60.4%) from the field and connected on 5-of-9 (55.6%) from beyond the arc. East Stroudsburg, meanwhile, hit only 16-of-55 (29.1%) from the floor and 4-of-11 (36.4%) from long range on the night.

The only blemishes on a great night came on the glass and at the foul line. The Huskies were out-rebounded by a 38-20 margin - 18-1 in offensive rebounds - and were outscored from the foul line, 10-0. Bloomsburg, however, only attempted three foul shots while East Stroudsburg was 10-of-12 (83.3%) from the stripe.

Julia Kutz paced East Stroudsburg with 16 points and 10 rebounds.

The Huskies will look for their third consecutive win on Saturday afternoon, February 8, when they head to Shepherd University to battle the Rams. Tip-off is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. Bloomsburg will try to avenge a 69-59 home setback to the Rams back on January 6.