Box Score

SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. – The Shippensburg University women's basketball team took advantage of free-throw opportunities and a career-high 33 points from senior Sarah Strybuc on Saturday afternoon to defeat PSAC East rival and defending conference champion Bloomsburg, 92-83, from Heiges Field House.

The win snapped Shippensburg's (6-1, 3-0 PSAC East) six-game losing streak to the Huskies (5-2, 2-2) as the Raiders last defeated Bloomsburg on Jan. 19, 2011 (69-66 at Bloomsburg). It's SU's first home victory over the Huskies since an 80-44 triumph on Jan. 27, 2010.

"I'm just very excited for our team because this is a big win, they're the defending conference champions and we're a very young team that has very little experience most of the time out on the floor," head coach Kristy Trn '93/'94M said. "I'm hoping that having a win like this that we haven't had in a long time will maybe lift up their spirits as they head into break and they can really start to see the type of team that they could be further down the road as we grow a little bit and learn some more."

Strybuc shot 11-of-14 from the floor – including a 6-of-8 effort from three-point range – and added six assists. It was the third effort of her career with at least six three-point makes.

Sophomore Stephanie Knauer netted 16 points and shot 10-of-12 from the free throw line while freshman Lauren Gold added 15 points, eight rebounds and three assists.

Freshman Morgan Griffith shot 7-of-8 from the field for 14 points while collecting five rebounds. Freshman Logan Snyder provided a valuable scoring effort off the bench with a career-high nine points on 3-of-6 shooting.

Shippensburg held a dominant edge at the stripe, shooting 27-of-33 (81.8 percent) compared to just 5-of-7 for BU. Gold contributed another efficient performance at the charity stripe, going 8-of-8 to lift her season mark to 56-of-61 (91.8 percent).

Bloomsburg held its only lead of the game at 2-0 before giving up a 12-0 run to the Raiders that included consecutive three-point buckets from Strybuc, who connected on her first four attempts from downtown.

"I think getting [Strybuc] off to a good start was the most important thing for the team to move forward and be able to click offensively and I thought she did a great job start to finish," Trn said. "I think her emotion then and her getting us off to a good start offensively sort of took the weight off the rest of the team to be able to go out there and try to create things."

Led by a 26-point performance from Catherine Noack, Bloomsburg was able to draw close in the second half. The Huskies were within six points of the Raider lead for a large portion of the second half (from the 17:32 mark to the 7:48 mark), before Shippensburg was able to close out strong.

"We were able to keep our composure with the environment, with the fact that we did have a large lead and then [BU] came storming back," Trn said. "What I'm more proud of is they stuck together as a group, they didn't sort of go into their own shells and fracture, that really brought them together even more. I think they were so determined to get this game…I just think that mental toughness is something you can't teach and now they know they have it and they know how to get through it."

The Raiders will travel to UPJ for a PSAC East matchup next Tues., Dec. 17 from the Sports Center.