 "Photo: The Penn/ Dave Biblis")
IUP wrapped up the regular season with an 83-44 destruction of Slippery Rock Saturday in front of a large crowd at Memorial Field House during Senior Night.
The game was tied 16-16 at the 11:43 mark in the first half after a 3-pointer from Slippery Rock guard Bethany Caudill.
Sixty-seven points and 14 3-pointers later, IUP cruised to a comfortable victory.
Despite the barrage of 3-pointers, hitting shots from long distance were not apart of the original game plan.
The plan was to pound Slippery Rock down in the paint, a plan that IUP executed successfully.
Sarah Pastorek scored 18 points and probably sealed the PSAC West Freshman of the Year award.
When the low-post game was working, it opened shots for IUP’s sharpshooters to taker aim.
“When you’re feeling it and you’re knocking down 3-[pointers], you can’t really discourage your people from shooting 3-[pointers] when they’re hitting them,” Head Coach Jeff Dow said.
Guard Eryn Withers hit a game-high five 3-pointers and finished with 21 points.
Guard Lacy Claar hit four 3-pointers and broke the school record for 3-pointers made in a season with 73 – breaking Katie Glaws’ previous record of 71.
The big win left time for the two seniors, Kierstin Filla and Hillary Shope, to take it all in as their last time on the floor at Memorial Field House.
“I was sitting on the bench and I gave everybody a hug when I came out. [I] gave Kier[stin] a hug when she came out and she sat down on the bench and it was like two minutes to go and I leaned back and I said, ‘Take it all in Kier, it’s our last time,’” Shope said.
Both Shope and Filla were taken out of the game and given a standing ovation for the efforts to the women’s basketball program.
“It’s kind of surreal right now. It hasn’t really hit me,” Filla said. “It was definitely bittersweet tonight.”
Despite the high emotions of playing in front of the home fans for the final time, Shope, Filla and the rest of the Crimson Hawks must turn the page and get ready for tonight’s showdown with Cal U in the PSAC quarterfinals.
It doesn’t matter where these teams finish in the standings, these two teams always find a way to cross each other’s paths in the postseason, and this season is no different.
After a 39-point win, it is safe to say that IUP comes into the third match-up with Cal U with some much-needed confidence and momentum.
“It was definitely important,” Filla said. “Our confidence is definitely up now just with how we played offensively.”
Although IUP had some momentum, Cal U swept the Hawks in the regular season for the second year in a row.
In the last three regular seasons, IUP is 1-5 against Cal U. In those three PSAC tournaments, however, IUP is 3-0, all of which were in the championship game.
The game is not just important for IUP from a rivalry standpoint, but also for IUP’s chances of making the NCAA tournament.
Although IUP has had a tremendous season, given what they lost last season and in the middle of this season, it has yet to get that big win over a marquee team.
It had four chances with two games against Cal U and two against Gannon, but faltered all four times.
No matter what the outcome is, Dow knows that his team exceeded expectations set forth for them in the beginning of the season.
“This has been just a gutty little group of nine players and for us to come away with a record of 10-4, and by no means am I embarrassed that the four losses are to Cal and Gannon […], but to be essentially one game behind last year’s team [..] it certainly says a lot about the character of this group,” Dow said.
Be the first to comment on this article!