Gannon drops No. 17 Indiana (Pa.)

ERIE, Pa. — No. 20 Gannon used runs of 13-2 and 14-1 in the first half en route to a 19-point halftime lead to take down No. 17 Indiana (Pa.) 71-40 on Wednesday night.

After the Golden Knights (16-3, 13-2) took an early 4-0 lead, Sarah Pastorek tied the game for IUP with a pair of layups followed by a layup off a missed 3-pointer by Arika Ullman. Gannon again took a four-point lead with buckets from Jen Papich and Caitlyn Lowe before Ashley Stoner’s jumper in the paint made it 8-6 at the 13:05 mark of the first half.

The Golden Knights then went on their first run of the game, outscoring IUP 13-2 to take a 21-8 lead. The Crimson Hawks would cut their deficit to 10 at 23-13 on a 3-pointer by Marita Mathe, but three consecutive treys by the Golden Knights gave Gannon a 32-13 advantage with just over four minutes remaining.

Gannon would lead by as many as 23 in the first half, but the Crimson Hawks attempted to gain momentum heading into the break with a three by Leslie Stapleton, as IUP trailed 37-19.

Gannon wouldn’t let IUP get anything going in the second half, as the closest the score would get was 17 at 41-24, after a pair of free throws by Stoner with 16:32 remaining.

The Crimson Hawks lost the turnover battle 20-11, shot just 31 percent (14-44) from the floor, 42 percent (9-21) from the foul line and 20 percent (3-15) from three .

Lowe scored a game-high 18 points for Gannon, hitting four of the Golden Knights 10 3-pointers. Papich added 16 points for the Golden Knights.

Pastorek was the only Crimson Hawk to reach double figures in scoring with 10 points, going 4-6 from the foul line and grabbing seven boards.

Getting her first start of the season in place of Talen Watson, Mathe scored eight points in a season-high 32 minutes, with only two turnovers. Lisa Burton came off the bench to score nine points on 4-5 shooting, grabbing four offensive rebounds in 17 minutes. Stapleton added seven points and Stoner had six rebounds.