Bloomsburg's Championship Headquarters

Ticket prices (three-game package) for Final Four games:
$14 Adults ($8 Saturday only), $5 Students ($3 Saturday only),
Free admission for students with valid I.D.

Directions:

Southeast Pennsylvania: Take Northeast Extension of the Pennsylvania Turnpike (I-476) to I-80 west (Pocono Exit) to Exit 236A south

North of Bloomsburg: From the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre area, take I-81 south to I-80 west to Exit 236A south

The Williamsport area: Take I-180 south to I-80 east to Exit 236. From Exit 236, take Route 487 south and follow signs to campus, approximately one mile

For GPS users...type in 50 Country Club Road, Bloomsburg, PA. which will get you to the edge of the Upper Campus where the athletic complex is located.

SCOUTING BLOOMSBURG
The top seed from the East Division, Bloomsburg has earned hosting rights to this weekend's PSAC Final Four by way of a seven-game winning streak entering Friday's semifinal contest. The Huskies earned a bye through the first round and paved their way into the semis with a dominating performance on Tuesday, defeating fourth-seeded Kutztown, 81-52, in the quarterfinals. That game was never in doubt - Bloomsburg led 51-19 in halftime and four players scored in double figures. Catherine Noack, Kayla Oxenrider and Lauren Ellis all had 15 points and Danielle Derr added 12 points as the Huskies shot better than 52 percent from the floor. Bloomsburg won the first meeting this year, 84-59, on Dec. 2 at home.

>Friday's game is a re-match of last year's PSAC Championship Game in which Edinboro won, 74-58.
  
>One of the veteran-most squads in the conference, Bloomsburg boasts four seniors and one junior in its starting lineup. Like Edinboro, the Huskies' senior class has been immensely successful, winning 20-plus games in each of the past three seasons and 86 games in four years. The combined record of Bloomsburg and Edinboro since the start of the 2009-10 season is 180-51.
 
>Bloomsburg has displayed a potent offense, leading in the PSAC in scoring (75.7 ppg) and also has been strong defensively, ranking second in points allowed (57.5 ppg). The Huskies' +17.8 scoring margin is fifth best in all of NCAA Division II.

>Bloomsburg is 12-2 when playing at Nelson Field House this season.
 
>Friday's game will feature the PSAC's top two teams in assists-to-turnover ratio – Edinboro leads the conference at 0.94 and Bloomsburg follows at 0.91.
 
>The Huskies have won the PSAC championship once in school history – 1992.
 
SCOUTING GANNON
Gannon, ranked seventh in the latest WBCA USA TODAY Sports Top 25, cruised into the semifinals by way of its 77-50 win in Erie over California (Pa.) in Tuesday's quarterfinals. That win avenged an earlier loss to Cal in the previous battle between schools. Edinboro is the only other PSAC squad to hand Gannon a setback this season. The Golden Knights have won six consecutive games and a PSAC-best 27 victories overall on the year. 

>Sophomore Brittany Batts broke the school record for 3-pointers in a season with her 89th triple of the year on Tuesday.

>Gannon ranks second in the PSAC in offense (71.3 ppg) and fourth in defense (57.8 ppg allowed).

>The Golden Knights are the conference's top-ranked 3-point-shooting team – by a large margin. Gannon shoots 36.7 percent for the year from long range, ahead of second place IUP's 33.1 percent. Gannon has connected on 221 3's this year, 35 more than any other PSAC team.
 
SCOUTING MILLERSVILLE
Millersville has won two PSAC Tournament games to reach the semifinals after slipping to the third seed on the season's final day. The Marauders (22-7) knocked off six-seeded East Stroudsburg, 42-31, in the first round and then dispatched second-seeded Shippensburg, 62-42. 

>Millersville swept the season series with Bloomsburg, but lost in overtime to Gannon and fell at home to Edinboro, 69-64 on Jan. 5.

>Millersville ranks fourth in the PSAC in scoring (69.8 ppg) and third in defense (57.6 ppg allowed). The Marauders also average more offensive rebounds than any other team in the conference (18.1).

>Three Marauders average in double figure scoring – Aurielle Mosley (15.4 ppg), Mashira Newman (12.4 ppg) and Carly Gallagher (10.0 ppg). 
 
>Mosley owns the school's all-time blocks record (242).

>The Marauders have won three PSAC championships – 1984, 1987 and 2005. Edinboro and Millersville last met in the PSAC Tournament in 2011 when the Fighting Scots advanced to the finals with a 70-58 win in Bloomsburg.
 
SERIES HISTORY VS. THE HUSKIES
Edinboro leads, 13-9
Friday's semifinal marks the fourth meeting between Edinboro and Bloomsburg in the past two years as the two squads meet again in the PSAC Tournament. A year ago, Edinboro won both meetings, scoring a 98-73 win at Nelson Field House in November 2011 in the regular season and won again in the conference championship, 74-58, last March at McComb Fieldhouse. 

Edinboro is 3-1 vs. Bloomsburg in the PSAC Tournament all-time, winning its last three conference tourney games against the Huskies. Before last season, the teams had not met in the PSAC playoffs since 1997 when the Boro won, 63-54, in the semifinals. Edinboro also won a 1993 quarterfinal game, 76-62. Bloomsburg's only PSAC Tournament win in the series came during a 1992 semifinal contest, 70-40. Bloomsburg went on to win its only conference crown that year.
 
WHEN LAST WE MET
Then-No. 25 Bloomsburg handed Edinboro its worst defeat of the season, 84-59, on Dec. 2 at Nelson Field House. The Huskies jumped on the Fighting Scots from the start, shooting 57 percent from the field while forcing 25 Edinboro turnovers. The game remained nearly even for the first 10 minutes, but a six-minute dry spell for the Scots from the floor helped the Huskies stretch their lead to double digits, taking a 43-27 lead to intermission and stretched their edge to 27 points during the second half. Kiara Brown would score a game-high 23 points, but it wouldn't be enough as 10 players found the scoring column for Bloomsburg. Danielle Derr sparked the hosts with 19 points off the bench while Dana Wieller netted 14 points and Kayla Oxenrider checked in with 13 points. The Huskies held a huge edge inside, outscoring Edinboro in the paint by a 40-10 margin while making 31 field goals, the most of any Boro opponent this season.

LAST YEAR'S PSAC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
Edinboro captured its second consecutive PSAC title by way of a 74-58 win vs. Bloomsburg at McComb Fieldhouse on March 3, 2012. On that night, Renee' Brown led all scorers with 29 points as the Boro ran out to a 12-point halftime lead and controlled the contest throughout. Edinboro shot 40.7 percent from the field and out-rebounded Bloomsburg, 43-34. Of returning players, Darche' Jackson scored 16 points for Edinboro and Kiara Brown netted nine points. Dana Wieller registered 13 points for Bloomsburg and Kayla Oxenrider had 10 points.
 
LAST TIME OUT
Edinboro defeated IUP for the third time this season and moved on in the PSAC Tournament with a 75-71 victory on Tuesday. The third game proved to be the tightest of all as the Crimson Hawks led by three at half and owned a one-point lead with 2:33 to play following a jumper from Lindsay Stamp for a 64-63 edge. After an exchange of free throws which left the game knotted at 65-65, Darche' Jackson's running one-hander off a feed from freshman Bobbi Bakerallowed Edinboro to seize the game's final lead change and a 67-65 advantage with 1:55 left.
 
Another Jackson lay-in stretched the lead to four (69-65), but Marita Mathe pulled IUP back within a bucket as her shot from inside the paint cut the Boro lead to just two. The teams then traded free throws as Kiara Brown made good on two attempts for Edinboro and Sarah Pastorek did likewise for IUP. The momentum swung firmly back to the Boro as the clock ticked to 32 seconds. While head coach Stan Swank called for timeout on the sideline, freshman Aignee Freeland slipped behind the IUP defense. The referee did not grant the request for time and Brown dished to Freeland for an easy layup and a 73-69 score. Jackson then iced the game with two free throws. Brown led all scorers with 25 points and Jackson added 22 points. 

UP NEXT
Friday's semifinal winners will advance to play for the conference championship on Saturday at 7 p.m. inside Bloomsburg's Nelson Field House. 
 
BORO QUICK HITS
>Edinboro heads to Bloomsburg seeking a championship three-peat. IUP was the last school to win three straight PSAC women's basketball championships, doing so from 2007-09. California (Pa.) also accomplished a three-peat between 2002-04. Shippensburg owns the record for most consecutive titles, winning six straight PSAC championships from 1996-2001.

>Senior All-American guard Kiara Brown stands as the PSAC's regular season scoring champion at 17.3 points per game to lead all conference players. The last Edinboro player to lead the conference in scoring was Marin Hightower in 2000 (23.6 ppg). Brown saw her scoring average rise to 17.6 points per game with her 25-point performance on Tuesday.
 
>Edinboro has reached the semifinal round of the conference playoffs 10 times in school history. The Scots are 7-3 in PSAC semifinal contests and 3-4 in the championship round all-time.
 
>The PSAC Final Four returns to Bloomsburg this weekend for the second time in three years. The last time the conference championship weekend was held in Bloomsburg in 2011, Edinboro emerged as PSAC champions following wins over Millersville and California (Pa.).
 
>Junior Darche' Jackson has played some of her finest games in the post-season and continued that trend with her season-high 22 points on Tuesday vs. IUP. The total fell just shy of her career-best of 24 points scored two years earlier to the day – March 5, 2011, in Edinboro's PSAC Championship win over Cal U.

>The Fighting Scots honored their three seniors, Samantha Blazetic, Kiara Brown and Kerry Connolly, before their regular season-ending win over Mercyhurst last Wednesday. The trio will look to add to an already impressive history – during the past four years, Edinboro is 94-23, the best four-year stretch in school history.

TRIO OF SCOTS HONORED BY PSAC
Three Edinboro players were honored by the PSAC this week as both Samantha Blazetic and Kiara Brown were named to the West Division first team while Blazetic was also named West Defensive Player of the Year and Aignee Freeland earned West Freshman of the Year honors. For more, see page 7.