EAST STROUDSBURG, Pa. – The Bloomsburg University women's basketball team's run in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) tournament came to an end Wednesday as the East Stroudsburg Warriors outlasted the Huskies, 53-42, in the conference quarterfinals. Bloomsburg ends its season at 14-14 while the Warriors improve to 20-9 on the year.

The Huskies were led offensively by junior Emma Saxton (York, Pa./Central York) with 11 points and five rebounds while redshirt junior Meghan Corridoni (Exeter, Pa./Holy Redeemer) posted 10 points and four rebounds. Senior Taylor Montana (Berwick, Pa./Berwick) finished the day with a team-best seven rebounds and four points. Freshman Emma Gochnauer (Strasburg, Pa./Lampeter-Strasburg) posted seven points in 14 minutes of action and pulled down a pair of rebounds.

 As a team, the Huskies shot just 35.4% from the field (17-of-48) but were 10-of-23 (43.5%) in the second half.  Bloomsburg was just 2-of-13 (15.4%) from three-point range and 6-of-9 from the free-throw line.

Bloomsburg finished the day with 23 turnovers, 13 of which came in the first half, and East Stroudsburg turned them into 21 points for the game.

The Warriors shot just 37.5% from the field for the game (21-of-56) but were 14-of-27 (51.9%) in the first half and just 7-of-29 (24.1%) in the second. ESU was 3-of-7 from long range and 8-of-12 from the free-throw line.

 It was a tale of two halves for the Huskies, Wednesday night, and the first half deficit was too much to overcome. After Montana and Corridoni got two of the game's first three buckets, the Warriors went on a five-point run to take a 9-4 lead with 6:07 to play in the first. Corridoni ended the scoring run with a layup after grabbing the offensive rebound off a missed foul shot, and freshman McKenna Hayward (Ebensburg, Pa./Central Cambria) cut the lead to two, 10-8, with 4:01 to play. The Warriors closed out the quarter on a 9-0 run to carry a 19-8 lead into the first intermission.

The Warriors scoring run continued through most of the second quarter as ESU scored 13 unanswered points over the first eight minutes of the quarter to take its largest lead of the game, 32-8. Gochnauer finally ended the Huskies' scoring drought as she converted the old-fashion three-point play with 1:51 to play to cut the lead to 32-11. Jordan Hertz made a layup on the other end of the court to push the lead back to 23, 34-11, but junior Lauren Oeth (Doylestown, Pa./Germantown Academy) and Saxton hit back-to-back shots to cut the lead to 34-15 going into halftime.

The Huskies out-scored ESU 12-7 in the third quarter to kick off their second-half comeback attempt, trailing just 41-27 at the end of the quarter. Gochnauer hit a jumper at the 2:14 mark, and it was the last bucket for either team in the quarter.

Cassie Ksiazek hit a free throw and a layup to open the fourth and push ESU's lead to 17, 44-27, but Hayward and junior Payton Spadaccino (Ivyland, Pa./Council Rock South) combined for four free throws to get the Huskies to within 13, 44-13. After two more free throws for the Warriors, Bloomsburg went on a 7-0 run, including a jumper from Spadaccino, a layup from Saxton, and senior Bella Ricci's (Etters, Pa./Red Land) first three of the game at the 4:29 mark. The Warriors halted the Huskies' comeback attempt as they went on a five-point run to extend their lead back to 13, 51-38, with 1:06 to play. Saxton's free throw at the 37-second mark cut the deficit to 12, but Tiffany Lapotsky made a layup on the other end with 11 seconds left to push the lead back to 14, 53-39. Corridoni finished off the scoring with four seconds left with a three to bring the score to its final, 53-42.

The Huskies wrap up their season 14-14 after earning the No. 6 seed in the conference tournament. Bloomsburg was 8-6 inside Nelson Fieldhouse and 10-12 against conference teams. The Huskies lose just two players to graduation, Taylor Montana (Berwick, Pa./Berwick) and Bella Ricci (Etters, Pa./Red Land), with the core of the lineup expected to return for the 2020-21 campaign.
  Montana finished her career with the Huskies with 1,1,00 points, 103 blocks, 98 assists, and 659 rebounds. Montana is 22^nd on the all-time scoring list, 15^th on the rebounding list, and seventh on the all-time blocks list. She is the seventh player in school history to record at least 100 blocks in her career.
 
Ricci ends her time with the Huskies with 512 points in three years, 132 assists, 171 rebounds, 63 three-pointers, and 44 steals.