STORYLINE
The No. 21 Fighting Scots (14-3, 11-2 PSAC) make the short trip up I-79 to Mercyhurst to renew acquaintances with the rival Lakers (5-12, 5-8) on Wednesday night. Edinboro will be seeking a bit of revenge for the way the last trip to Mercyhurst turned out, when the Lakers pulled the upset in overtime over Edinboro, which had been ranked second in the nation at the time with an undefeated 24-0 record. Also at stake is a five-game winning streak for the Scots while Mercyhurst will look to snap a two-game slide.
 
SCOUTING MERCYHURST
Mercyhurst will seek to quickly erase memories of their last outing, a 100-47 defeat at No. 19 Indiana (Pa.) on Saturday. The Crimson Hawks, who had been held without a 3-pointer last Wednesday in a loss at Edinboro, exploded for 14 3's in the blowout. Mercyhurst enters Wednesday ranked 15th in the PSAC in scoring offense at 56.6 points per game, led by senior forward Kaylee Foster (10.4 ppg) and senior guard Dana Banda (10.2 ppg). Banda has worked overtime this season, logging the most minutes of any PSAC player (617), an average of 36.3 minutes per night. Mercyhurst is 2-3 thus far on its first trip around the PSAC West, scoring wins vs. Lock Haven (69-55) and at Slippery Rock (60-44), while suffering losses vs. Clarion (64-62) and at Gannon (59-43) and IUP. The Lakers have played much better on their home floor at the Mercyhurst Athletic Center, posting a 3-3 record while struggling to a 2-9 mark away from the MAC.
 
SERIES HISTORY VS. THE LAKERS
Edinboro leads, 39-11
Mercyhurst's overtime victory over the Scots last February snapped a five-game Edinboro winning streak over their Erie rival. Last season's games were truly a story of two completely different nights - the first time the squads met, Edinboro dominated for a 71-41 victory on Jan. 25, 2012 at McComb Fieldhouse. On that night, Mercyhurst committed 40 turnovers against Edinboro's full-court press and trailed 46-15 at halftime. Less than a month later, it was a completely different story at the Mercyhurst Athletic Center. Edinboro struggled with cold-shooting and foul trouble and failed to put the Lakers away. Edinboro led, 37-28 at half, but shot just 21 percent (6-of-28) during the second period as the Lakers fought back. A free throw from Megan Hoffman with 13 seconds remaining broke a 58-58 tie and the Scots missed a last-second 3-point attempt as the Lakers finished their huge upset, 59-58 in overtime. Since the 2005-06 season, Edinboro owns an 8-3 edge over Mercyhurst.
 
EDINBORO JUMPS BACK INTO NATIONAL TOP 25
The Edinboro women's basketball team jumped back into the USA TODAY Sports Women's Basketball Coaches Association Top 25 this week, taking the No. 21 spot in the latest national poll. A pair of victories over Top 25-ranked squads Gannon and Indiana (Pa.) in the past two weeks along with a five-game winning streak helped the Scots re-appear in the national poll with a record of 14-3 overall and 11-2 in the PSAC play. It marks Edinboro's first appearance in the national Top 25 since the Nov. 27 poll. Edinboro's absence in the last six Top 25 polls broke a string of 22 consecutive weeks ranked between Feb. 22, 2011 and Nov. 27, 2012.
 
HOW THE WEST WAS WON
The last time local rivals Edinboro and Mercyhurst met, the Lakers came away with a stunning upset of the then-No. 2 and unbeaten Fighting Scots, 59-58 in overtime on Feb. 22, 2012. That loss snapped a 24-0 start to the season by Edinboro. It also brought the Scots' 23-game winning streak vs. PSAC West teams to an end. That win streak was more than a year-long, dating to Jan. 29, 2011. The Mercyhurst loss was an aberration in what has been a stretch of domination against West Division teams by the two-time conference champion Fighting Scots. Since the beginning of the 2010-11 season, Edinboro has recorded a 35-2 record vs. the PSAC West and has won eight straight since the Mercyhurst defeat last February, including all five games thus far this season vs. divisional foes since the Mercyhurst defeat last year.
 
1-2 PUNCH
In many ways, the seasons of senior All-Americans Kiara Brown and Samantha Blazetic have mirrored each other. Both players reached 1,000 points for their Edinboro careers earlier this season and the pair have swapped the top spot in PSAC scoring multiple times throughout the year. It seems only fitting that after the two would each score 20 points to lead Edinboro to a victory over Slippery Rock this past Saturday that they would sit first and second among conference leading scorers once more. Brown held on to the top spot with 271 points and 15.9 ppg while Blazetic took over second spot at 260 points on the year, good for a 15.3 ppg average.
 
IN LIMITED COMPANY
Samantha Blazetic capped a week to remember by being named PSAC West Athlete of the Week on Jan. 28. Not only did she put her name in the Edinboro record book again with her eight blocks on Wednesday, but she also reached two even more prestigious stats. Her blocks total against IUP gave her 258 as a Fighting Scot, allowing her to leapfrog into third place all-time among PSAC players in blocks. She passed both Clarion's Carlita Jones (253 between 1991-95) and California (Pa.)'s Susie Gyarfas (254, 2001-03) and after five more blocks vs. Slippery Rock, five blocks away from tying Amy Wolf, who finished her career at Bloomsburg (1984-88) with 268 swats. The senior also pulled in six rebounds against IUP, leaving her with exactly 700 for her career. Blazetic is now just the eighth player in Edinboro history to score 1,000 points and record 700 rebounds. She becomes the second player in as many seasons to accomplish the feat – Renee' Brown reached the status as a senior a year ago, finishing her career with 1,430 points and 735 rebounds.
 
BORO TOPS PSAC IN ASSIST/TURNOVER RATIO
Edinboro has the best assist-to-turnover ratio in the PSAC this season at 0.97. The Fighting Scots rank second in the conference in assists per game on the year at 16.9. Defensively, Edinboro has forced 389 turnovers -- no team has committed fewer than 17 turnovers in a game vs. the Scots all season. Edinboro is also second in the PSAC in turnover margin at +5.53.
 
60 IS THE MAGIC NUMBER
Edinboro has proven extremely difficult to beat in recent seasons, compiling one of the best records in all of NCAA Division II with an overall record of 70-9 since the beginning of the 2010-11 campaign. That winning percent goes up even more when the Fighting Scots reach 60 points. Dating back to the 2010-11 season, Edinboro is 69-2 when scoring 60 or more points.
 
HALFWAY THERE
The Fighting Scots have been able to lock down victories when holding the edge at halftime so far this season, posting an undefeated record when leading at intermission. Edinboro is 13-0 when leading at the half thus far on the year.