EAST STROUDSBURG – The East Stroudsburg University women's basketball team won consecutive games for the first time this season as the Warriors grinded out a 51-43 road victory over Bloomsburg on Wednesday evening inside Nelson Field House.
The Warriors moved to 6-10 on the season and 4-7 in the PSAC while the Huskies, who were held to their shooting percentage (23.4%) of the season, slipped to 4-13 overall and 2-9 in the conference following their sixth straight loss.
Izzy Vogel highlighted the night for ESU as the junior scored a game-high 16 points to go along with six rebounds, one assist and a steal.
On the court for 39 of the 40 minutes, senior
Carley Adams added 10 points, three rebounds and an assist.
Playing all 40 minutes in back-to-back games and for the fourth time this season, junior
Corrin Gill filled up the stat sheet with eight points, four rebounds, four assists and four steals which matched her career high.
Cassidy Saylor played an efficient 19 minutes off the bench as the junior added eight points (3-4 FG), four rebounds and a block.
Notables
- Junior Emily Chmiel contributed four points, an ESU career-high 13 rebounds and three blocks in 19 minutes
- Senior Gwenn Sabato tallied three points and five rebounds while junior Katie Geisler recorded two points and four rebounds to round out the stat sheet for the Warriors
- Bloomsburg's Katelin Starr, who leads the PSAC with 19.5 points per game, did it all for the Huskies with 15 points, 13 rebounds, four blocks, two assists and a steal. Allison Hileman totaled seven points, three rebounds and three assist while Lauren Kirsch added six points and seven rebounds.
- Despite a sluggish shooting first half, ESU finished 16-for-53 (30.2%) from the floor and 2-for-7 (28.6%) from long distance
- The Warriors' defense forced the Huskies to shoot 15-for-64 overall (23.4%) and 1-for-21 (12.5%) beyond the arc, which included a lone three-pointer from Leah Kale at the 1:20 mark in the fourth quarter
- ESU's slight advantage at the free throw made a difference as the Warriors finished 17-for-24 (70.8%) compared to 12-for-20 (60.0%) for Bloomsburg. In the fourth quarter alone, ESU shot 11-for-17 at the charity stripe.
- The Huskies had the advantage in offensive rebounds (16-8), points of turnovers (15-12), points in the paint (24-22), second chance points (11-6) and the turnover category (13-16) but the Warriors outrebounded Lock Haven (46-45) and had more bench points (11-9)
- ESU defeats Bloomsburg for the second consecutive time, holding the Huskies to 42 points (2/6/23) and 43 points (tonight) respectively and moves to 31-57 in the all-time series dating back to 1979
How It Happened
- It was a defensive battle through the first six minutes of the first quarter as the Warriors held a 7-4 lead at the 3:48 mark with the teams combining to shoot 4-for-19 (21.0%). After the media timeout, ESU and Bloomsburg both scored two points the rest of the period giving the Warriors a 9-6 advantage.
- The back and forth continued in the first half of the second quarter as the Warriors and Huskies poured in four points each to leave the score at 13-10 headed into the media break. Bloomsburg would regain the lead at 15-14 following a 4-0 run, but ESU closed out the first half by scoring six of the final eight points to regain a 19-16 edge.
- Bloomsburg cut the deficit to 19-18 out the break but the Warriors answered with a jumper from Gill and a layup by Chmiel to push the lead back to 23-18. The Huskies converted a layup out of media stoppage to get within three (23-20), but the Warriors scored five points in 30 seconds to take a 28-20 lead with 2:31 on the clock. Bloomsburg battled down the stretch of the third period as the Huskies trimmed ESU's advantage to 32-26.
- ESU caught fire to start the fourth quarter as the Warriors went on a 10-1 spurt with six points from Vogel and four points by Saylor to take its largest lead of the game at 42-27. A Bloomsburg three-point play helped spark a Huskies' run as Starr made consecutive layups to make the score 42-34, until three free throws by Gill gave ESU an 11-point lead (45-34). ESU was ahead 49-47 with exactly two minutes remaining and Bloomsburg could only get as close as seven points (49-42, 50-43) with the Warriors holding on for an eight-point victory.
Up Next
The Warriors open a two-game home stretch on Saturday as Millersville visits Koehler Fieldhouse for a PSAC East game at 1 p.m.
