The IUP basketball teams swept a doubleheader from Kutztown, but it wasn’t easy for either team.
The women trailed entering the 4th quarter but rallied for a 74-63 win. After taking an 11-point lead into the locker room at halftime, they stumbled in the third quarter, with the Golden Bears outscoring them 20-8. Down 50-49 heading into the 4th, IUP turned up the defensive pressure. Ellie Wilkerson scored 8 of her team-high 19 points in the final quarter and after Ny’Shae Weaver’s layup put the Crimson Hawks up a point at the 7:29 mark, they went on a 10-2 run to the end of the game. Wilkerson’s 19 was augmented by Janeira Scott’s 15, Shamia Strayhorn’s 14, and 10 apiece by Weaver and Marin Miller.
Coach Craig Carey says IUP bore down in the 4th quarter.
The IUP men led in the first half, fell behind in the second, and came back for a 66-64 win. Coach Joe Lombardi did not start Damir Brooks, trying to protect him from getting into foul trouble, but when Brooks got in, he was a difference maker, finishing with 18 points and 12 rebounds. IUP filled it up from the free throw line in the final four minutes, when Brooks, Kymani Merraro, and Christian Moore all hit foul shots. Moore made the last of those shots to give IUP the lead for good. Merraro scored 14 points, and Moore and Tyler Grove each had 11.
Lombardi says his men’s team will keep playing hard and it doesn’t matter who has the most talented team on the court.
The IUP women make a one-day road trip to play at Ashland, Ohio tomorrow night. Then they’ll join the men for a doubleheader at Millersville on Saturday.
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