ERIE, PA – The Gannon University women's basketball team needed a big homestand after opening the PSAC season with two road losses.

The four consecutive home games couldn't have gone much better for coach Cleve Wright's team.

The Golden Knights closed their 4-0 home stretch with an impressive 65-48 victory over Shippensburg on Monday night at Highmark Events Center.

Gannon improved to 10-2 overall and 2-2 in the PSAC while handing Shippensburg (8-2, 3-1) its first PSAC loss. Defense again was the key factor in the win as Gannon limited Ship to 23.6 percent shooting (13-of-55) from the field.

The Knights, led by Emma Wright's (Fairview, Pa./Talawanda) tough defense, also limited Ship senior guard Ariel Jones to 8 points on 2-of-17 shooting. She scored a PSAC-record 48 points on Sunday night in a win at Mercyhurst and was averaging 24 points coming into Monday's game.

In four games at Highmark Events Center since Dec. 8, Gannon has outscored Findlay (65-57), Mansfield (87-41), Shepherd (81-29), and Shippensburg by an average of 31 points (75-44).

Gannon redshirt senior Sam Pirosko had her third consecutive game of more than 20 points as she finished with 23 points, 10 rebounds, and 6 assists.

She is averaging 25 points during the past three games. She became the 31st Gannon player to score 1,000 career points on Wednesday. Since then, she has moved up to 24th on the list with 1,064 points.

Grad student Delaney Dogan (West Middlesex, Pa./West Middlesex), a 6-foot post player, added 12 points and nine rebounds, while freshman guard Maddy Wheatley (Canberra, Australia/UCSSC Lake Ginninderra) had 11 points and seven rebounds.

 Wheatley's back-to-back 3-pointers early in the fourth quarter extended Gannon's lead to 52-37. Gannon outscored Shippensburg 19-11 in the fourth quarter to seal the victory.

Gannon will go on its Christmas break before returning Dec. 30 with a home game at Lock Haven.