BLOOMSBURG, Pa. – A career night for sophomore guard Lauren Kirsch (Palmyra, PA/Lower Dauphin) that was capped off by a game-winning shot lifted the Bloomsburg women's basketball team to a 48-45 win over Lock Haven in a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Eastern Division contest Wednesday evening at the Nelson Field House.
 
Kirsch set a new career high in points with 19, and her biggest bucket of the game came with under 10 seconds to play and sealed the victory for Bloomsburg. With the game knotted up at 45-45, Kirsch was able to get open after coming off a screen that was set by Emma Gochnauer (Strasburg, Pa./Lampeter-Strasburg), and the sophomore caught the ball on the left wing. Kirsch had enough room to elevate for a deep three-point shot, and she buried it to put Bloomsburg on top 48-45.
 
On the ensuing possession, Lock Haven's Brooke Lawyer got a clean look from beyond the arc on another side out-of-bounds play, but her game-tying shot went off the mark. The Bald Eagles were able to gain possession of the ball off a long rebound, but a desperation shot as time expired was also off target.
 
Kirsch led the Huskies (8-11, 6-9 PSAC) in scoring with 19 points in 30 minutes off the bench. The sophomore was 6-for-8 from the field, which included a clip of 5-for-7 from beyond the arc, and tallied two steals, two assists and two rebounds.
 
Ella Kale (Spring Grove, PA/Spring Grove) was the team's next highest scorer with nine points, and the guard added seven rebounds, three assists, two steals and a block. Katie Starr (Berwick, PA/Berwick) led the team in rebounding with eight, and the sophomore forward tallied four points and a steal. Gochnauer posted some solid stats as she finished with seven points, six rebounds, two blocks and three assists.
 
For Lock Haven (7-13, 5-10 PSAC), Alana Robinson led the team in scoring with 15 points and the freshman forward was two rebounds away from a double-double as she finished with eight. Lawyer was the only other player in double figures as she finished with 13 points and four steals.
 
Scoring was hard to come by early on in the game as both teams combined to go 3-for-19 (15%) from the field halfway through the first quarter. Lock Haven scored the first points of the game on their first possession, but Bloomsburg went on to score the next 10 points in the frame to make it 10-2. As the quarter ended, however, Lock Haven's Jackie Fetsko converted on an and-one opportunity to make the score 10-5 heading into the second.
 
Bloomsburg responded in the second quarter with a quick 7-0 scoring run to go up by double-digits as the run made it a 17-5 game. Kirsch began the run with a three, then Starr scored on back-to-back Bloomsburg possessions. The Huskies were able to cling to the double-digit lead for much of the second quarter and then another three by Kirsch in the closing minute put the Huskies on top 28-14 at the half.
 
The Huskies would lead by as much as 15 in the third quarter and the biggest lead of the game came after another three-point shot by Kirsch with 6:32 to go. From that point, however, Lock Haven began to shift the momentum by going on a 16-4 scoring run over the course of the next six minutes of play to make it a 35-32 contest with under 30 seconds to play in the third. A free throw by Kale in the closing seconds made it 36-32 heading into the final frame.
 
In the fourth, Bloomsburg responded with a quick run to go back up by eight points. The Huskies continued to lead by eight points until Lawyer hit a two-point jumper and a three pointer on back-to-back LHU possessions to bring the score back to within three at 44-41. Robinson then converted a field goal to make it a one-point game, but a team technical that was called on Lock Haven led to a good free throw by Gochnauer and gave Bloomsburg a two-point lead and possession of the ball. Gochnauer missed a jumper on the following possession, and following a timeout, Robinson was able to convert on the other end and knotted things up at 45-45.
 
From there, Kirsch's heroics proved to be the turning point as her game-winning basket allowed Bloomsburg to hang on for the tight victory.
 
As a team, the Huskies shot 34% (18-for-53) from the field and 77.8% (7-for-9) from the free throw line.
 
The Huskies won the rebounding category, 43-33.
 
The Bald Eagles forced 20 Bloomsburg turnovers that they were able to convert into 20 points.
 
Bloomsburg will return to action with an away game on Saturday at Millersville (12-9, 7-8 PSAC). The game is scheduled to tip off at 1:00 PM.