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By Joe Mattis
ERIE, PA – Indiana (Pa.) dominated the boards Friday on the way to a 72-59 win over Bloomsburg in the NCAA Division II women’s Atlantic Regional semifinal at host Gannon’s Hammermill Center.
The No. 4 seeded Crimson Hawks outrebounded the Huskies 49-25 to move into the semifinals against fellow-PSAC team Gannon.
“Rebounding was big,” IUP coach Jeff Dow said after his team won its 23rd game against eight losses. But he wasn’t surprised at his team’s rebounding effort. “We’ve always had a pretty dominant effort on the boards”
The Crimson Hawks were led offensively by Ashley Stoner and Lindsay Stamp. The sophomores each scored 19 points, and senior Sarah Pastorek added 11 points.
“The guards were looking to pound it into the post,” said Stoner, who hit 9 of 13 shots.
For Stamp, who made 4 of 9 shots from long range, it was a return to her hometown and a court that she played on several times in high school. “It was exciting,” Stamp said. “I had a lot of family and friends (at the game). I feel real comfortable here.”
Stoner, junior Melanie Todd and sophomore point guard Marita Mathe each grabbed eight rebounds.
IUP led 31-27 at the half, but the Huskies briefly led midway through the second half. It was 51-49 when on consecutive possessions Mathe hit long 3-pointers for a 57-49 IUP lead. “That’s been Marita’s history, hitting clutch shots,” Dow said. “That gave us a spark.”
So did the play of Zhane Brooks and Todd off the bench. Brooks, who like Stamp played her high school ball in Erie, had four rebounds, but three were off the offensive board, and Todd had four offensive rebounds.
“With foul problems, we needed someone to step up. They both made energy plays,” Dow said.
Bloomsburg coach Bill Cleary felt that his defense was not sharp. “We were just slow in our rotation. Defensively, we were chasing. We weren’t disciplined, he said”.
On the other end of the court, Indiana’s defensive was strong against the Huskies, who won the PSAC championship a week ago. “I think we’re pretty good defensively,” Dow said. “We did a great job contesting every three.”
Bloomsburg, which ended its season at 24-6, shot just 32.8 percent from the floor and made only 4 of 17 3-pointers. Senior Kayla Oxenrider was the Huskies’ high scorer with 17 points, all in the second half. Fellow senior Dana Wieller and junior Catherine Noack each scored 10 points, but combined they made just 4 of 14 threes.
Cleary said that poor shooting was not indicative of how his team played this season. “We had a lot of looks that we didn’t finish,” he said.
