STORYLINE
The Fighting Scots (15-4, 12-3 PSAC) and California (Pa.) (14-5, 10-5) square off in a PSAC West battle on Wednesday at McComb Fieldhouse. Following a loss at Clarion on Saturday, Edinboro now stands just one game ahead of IUP for second in the West, with the second spot earning a bye through the first round of the PSAC Playoffs and a home game in the quarterfinals. Cal, meanwhile, sits two games back of Edinboro in fourth with eyes on slipping a bit closer to the number two spot.
 
IN THE RANKINGS
Edinboro fell out of the national Top 25 this week after being ranked No. 21 a week ago. The Fighting Scots received the second-most voters' points of any team outside the Top 25 with 51.
 
SCOUTING CALIFORNIA (PA)
Cal U has won four straight games entering Wednesday's game, scoring victories over Slippery Rock (75-58), Lock Haven (71-60), Clarion (69-44) and Mercyhurst (61-50).  The Vulcans have been a bit up and down this year, however, leading to their current fourth place spot in the PSAC West at 14-5 and 10-5 in conference play. Before embarking on their current roll, Cal had dropped three straight games, although two of those games were vs. nationally-ranked squads in IUP (59-47) and Gannon (65-53) as well as an 82-50 disappointment vs. Shippensburg at home on Jan. 12. The Vulcans have played their best ball on the road this year, posting a 7-1 record away from home while recording a 7-4 mark on their home floor. Senior guard Stephanie Michael leads the Vulcans with 13.3 points per game while junior forward Ashley Hines (9.8 ppg) and sophomore guard Emma Mahady (9.6 ppg) are also scoring threats. Cal U ranks eighth in the PSAC in scoring offense (67.5 ppg), but the Vulcans are stingy on defense where they rank third in the conference in points allowed (58.2 ppg).
 
SERIES HISTORY VS. THE VULCANS
Edinboro leads, 40-32
The Fighting Scots own the past seven victories of the series, thanks in part to playing Cal U three times in each of the past two years. In 2010-11, Edinboro swept the season series and then defeated Cal, 75-58, in the PSAC Championship Game. Last season, the Boro scored a 77-57 win at Cal behind three players in double figures - Samantha Blazetic (23 points), Kiara Brown (18) and Raven Metz (16). The teams then met twice in a week in late February - the squads closed the regular season with an 85-67 Boro win at home paced by 21 points from Brown and 20 from Blazetic. Edinboro then ended Cal's season in the PSAC Quarterfinals just three days later on Feb. 28, 2012 with a 77-58 win. On that night it was Renee' Brown leading the way with 24 points for Edinboro while Blazetic netted 21. Amy Johns was the only double figure scorer for Cal with 19 points. Before 2010-11, Edinboro had not swept the season series from Cal since 1999-2000. The two teams have exchanged runs of dominance - before Edinboro's current seven-game winning streak, the Vulcans had taken five in a row from the Boro.

WHEN LAST WE MET
Edinboro's first PSAC West game of the year came a bit early with the new conference scheduling as it traveled to Cal U on Dec. 8 and came away with a convincing 70-51 win. Cal entered the game rolling, winning its first five games of the year, but the Boro was able to hold down the Vulcans on their home floor thanks to a dominating front court performance from Samantha Blazetic and Aignee Freeland. Blazetic netted 21 points and brought down 13 rebounds and added four blocks. Freeland, meanwhile, posted her strongest game to date with a career-best 18 points and eight boards. Edinboro shot a season-best 50.8 percent from the floor (31-of-61) while limiting the Vulcans to an icy 26.2 percent (16-61). Ashley Hines had 13 points and Stephanie Michael added 11 for Cal, but the Fighting Scots never trailed thanks to a 7-1 run to start the game and an 11-0 break midway through the first half to establish control.
 
EDINBORO CLINCHES PSAC PLAYOFF SPOT
As the calendar turns to February, the PSAC playoff picture is slowly coming into focus. Though it came in a style the Boro would not have chosen, the Fighting Scots locked into the PSAC Playoffs on Saturday thanks to a Mercyhurst loss. With just seven games remaining in the regular season, Edinboro enters Saturday's game in sole possession of second place in the PSAC West, two games behind Gannon, and one game clear of third place IUP. Holding down a top-two spot becomes crucial this year as the PSAC adopts a new playoff format. Six teams from each division will qualify for the postseason tournament with the top two seeds earning byes and second round home games. First round play will begin on Saturday, March 2 with #6 at #3 and #5 at #4 seeds within the respective divisions.  On Tuesday, March 5 the 6/3 winner will travel to the #2 seed and the 5/4 winner will travel to the #1 seed again within the respective division.  The PSAC Semifinals will be conducted on March 8 with the bracket established to show the #2 seed/#1 seed from opposite divisions on the same side  of the bracket. Gannon, Edinboro and IUP have all clinched playoff spots from the West.
 
60 IS THE MAGIC NUMBER
Of Edinboro's four losses this season, three have come when the Fighting Scots have failed to reach 60 points. That was again the case last Saturday when Edinboro fell at Clarion, 56-55. Sixty has been a magic number for the Fighting Scots over the past three seasons – when they score 60 points or more, they are 70-2 dating to the start of the 2010-11 campaign.
 
ONE IS NOT A STREAK
When Edinboro takes to the court on Wednesday vs. Cal, it will be looking to get back to its winning ways following a loss to Clarion in its last time out. The Fighting Scots have done an excellent job of not allowing losing streaks to happen in recent years. In fact, Edinboro has not lost back-to-back games since February 2010 when it lost three straight between Feb. 17-24, 2010.
 
WHAT BROWN CAN DO FOR YOU
Kiara Brown played her freshman season at Cal before transferring to Edinboro for the 2010-11 campaign. In the seven games Brown has played against her former squad she has been tremendous, averaging 16.1 points per game. The Fighting Scots are 7-0 vs. the Vulcans with Brown on the roster.
 
TURNOVER-CAUSING MACHINE
The Fighting Scots have proven to be a turnover-creating machine so far this season, forcing opponents into 22.9 turnovers per game. No opponent thus far has been immune to the turnover barrage vs. Edinboro as the Fighting Scots have caused 17 turnovers or more in every game this year.
 
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 14-0 when leading at the half thus far on the year.
 
ALL GOOD THINGS MUST END
For the first time all season, the starting lineup of Kiara Brown, Darche' Jackson, Laurel Lindsay, Aignee Freeland and Samantha Blazetic tasted defeat in Edinboro's 56-55 setback at Clarion on Saturday. The starting lineup, which first hit the floor together on Dec. 4 in a victory over Davis & Elkins, had won all 12 games it had started together before Saturday's loss. Edinboro had lost once since head coach Stan Swank went to his now regular starting five – but that was a 46-40 defeat to Kutztown on Jan. 11 when Jackson was out of the starting lineup due to illness.
 
HEAD OF THE CLASS
Senior Kiara Brown is among the PSAC leaders in a number of statistical categories. She leads the conference in scoring by a full point – her 16.4 points per game pace the PSAC, ahead of second place Dana Wieller of Bloomsburg at 15.4 ppg. Brown is also second in steals (55, 2.9 spg), sixth in field goal percentage (.381) and 10th in assists (60, 3.2 apg).
 
HIPPO SHINES IN CLARION LOSS
Though Edinboro came up just short at Clarion on Saturday, it was still a banner night for freshman Lauren Hippo. The Boro newcomer netted a career-high 12 points on the night, including a late second half stretch when she tallied seven straight points to briefly erase a deficit and give Edinboro the lead. Hippo set a number of new career highs during the game – points (12), field goals made (5), five goals attempted (14), 3-pointers made (2) and 3-pointers attempted (6). For the season, she's averaging 3.2 points and 1.5 rebounds in 10.4 minutes per game. Over the past six games, she has recorded 6.8 points and 2.8 rebounds in 18.3 minutes.