INDIANA, Pa. - The Bloomsburg women's basketball team fell in its season opener, 54-50, to Virginia State Saturday afternoon.

The Huskies entered the fourth quarter with a narrow, two-point lead at 39-37, but the team hurt itself with foul trouble. The Trojans were in the bonus for half of the final quarter, leading to a 13-2 discrepancy in favor of Virginia State. 

Katie Starr (Berwick, Pa./Berwick) picked up where she left off last season, leading all players in the contest with 16 points, shooting 7-of-14 (50 percent) from the field. The senior forward grabbed seven rebounds while notching two steals and a block. Ava Stevenson (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Trinity) joined Starr in double figures, finishing with 10 points of 4-of-7 (57.1 percent) shooting from the field and 2-of-4 (50 percent) from behind the arc.

The Huskies fall to 0-1 to start the 2024-25 campaign as Virginia State begins 1-0.

How It Happened: 
The early tone between the two sides was defensive, but both teams found room to establish their presence in the opening quarters. Lauren Kirsch (Palmyra, Pa./Lower Dauphin) knocked down Bloomsburg's first basket of the season, connecting on her lone three of the contest at 7:00 to give the Huskies a 5-4 lead.

The Trojans began to pull away briefly halfway through the quarter with a 6-0 run to grab a 13-7 advantage. Leah Kale (Spring Grove, Pa./Spring Grove) ended Bloomsburg's scoring drought after two minutes with a layup to cut the early deficit to four. Stevenson connected on a three for the final bucket of the first quarter to make it 15-12. That basket from the Huskies came with over two minutes left in the first, as both sides leaned on their defenses to end the quarter. 

Bloomsburg's best quarter was the second, outsourcing Virginia State, 18-8 to close the half. Starr got things started with her first field goal to make it a 15-14 contest. Starr eventually gave the Huskies the lead off a layup to put it at 18-17. Maddie LaFrance (Harrisburg, Pa./Central Dauphin) hit her lone make of the day from behind the arc, followed by another two paint points from Starr to wrap up a 9-0, three-minute run for Bloomsburg to make it a 23-17 ball game. 

The Trojans got back on the board with a triple, but the Huskies followed up with a 7-0 run into the closing moments of the half. A pair of made free throws and five straight points from Stevenson gave Bloomsburg a 30-20 advantage with over a minute remaining in the half. A final three from Virginia State in its final possession made it a 30-23 contest through 20 minutes played. 

The Trojans began to cut into the Huskies' lead in the second half with three makes from the free throw line a minute-and-a-half into the third quarter. The first make 12 seconds later from Virginia State made it a one-possession game before tying it at 30-30 with 6:54 in the third. Steven and Starr went back-to-back in the paint to reestablish a two-possession lead and break the Huskies' dry spell. 

Bloomsburg gave up the lead for the first time since the 7:33 mark in the second, as the Trojans went up 35-34 with 2:12 left in the quarter. Kelly Leszcynski (Nazareth, Pa./Nazareth), in her first game back from injury, knocked down a triple to regain the lead for the Huskies before a pair of free throws from Ella Kale (Spring Grove, Pa./Spring Grove) put Bloomsburg up 39-37 with one quarter to play. 

After Virginia State tied the game on their first possession of the fourth, E. Kale knocked down a pair of mid-range jumpers to give the Huskies a 43-39 edge.7:20 in the fourth signaled the run of aggressive play in the paint from the Trojans that led to the fourth-quarter foul trouble. Starr kept it a four-point contest with under seven minutes to play, but Virginia State's offense became clear.

Despite going on a drought of over seven minutes from the field without a basket, the Trojans scored nine consecutive points from the charity stripe to take a 48-46 lead with three minutes left in the game. Virginia State broke that stretch with a layup with 2:30 remaining to make it a two-possession game. Starr broke her team's own scoring and field goal drought with a jumper to cut the deficit to two. 

A pivotal and-one conversion from the Trojans made it a five-point game. Despite another layup from Starr to make it 53-50, Bloomsburg was still in a chasing position. The Huskies' defense, a strength for much of the afternoon, got a stop with 13 seconds left to set up a potential game-tying opportunity. However, a costly five-second call on Bloomsburg from the inbound cost the Huskies a chance and forced the team to foul to put the game just out of reach.

Numbers to Know: 
13-2 - Entering the fourth quarter, the Huskies held a 14-12 edge in free throw attempts. In the end, Virginia State went 11-13 from the line in the fourth quarter, proving the difference in the final score.

26 - Bloomsburg's turnovers in Saturday's contest proved costly in a game that went down to the wire. The Huskies matched their high in turnovers from last season with 26. 

34.7 - Despite the loss, the Huskies' defensive performance was a notable start to the season. Virginia State shot just 34.7 percent from the field in the contest. That shooting performance would have been the third-worst effort by an opposing team against Bloomsburg last season. 

On The Horizon:
The Huskies are back in action on Sunday, November 10, at 12:00 p.m. against Salem (WV) to wrap up the opening weekend.