Box Score  l  Photo Gallery

EAST STROUDSBURG - Sophomore guard Imani Brown scored 22 points, junior forward Allison Howard had 20 and East Stroudsburg University won the overtime session 12-2 to advance to the PSAC women's basketball quarterfinals with a 79-69 (OT) win vs. Bloomsburg on Saturday afternoon at Koehler Fieldhouse.

Sophomore forward Rebecca Rutkowski added 14 points, 11 rebounds and four blocks, senior guard Tyeca Reviere had 11 points, seven rebounds and seven assists and junior guard Rachel Falkowski had 10 points for ESU (15-12), which reached the PSAC quarterfinals for the second time in three seasons.

The Warriors, the PSAC East's No. 4 seed, advance to play at No. 1 seed West Chester (20-6) on Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. in the first game of an ESU-WCU doubleheader. ESU's men's team advanced to play the Golden Rams with an 82-59 win vs. Lock Haven in the second game of Saturday's doubleheader.

Bloomsburg (13-14) rallied from a 67-59 deficit in the final 2:45 of regulation to force overtime, scoring the final eight points, but the Warriors seized control early in the extra session to put away the Huskies.

Alyssa Mack scored 17 points, including the game-tying jumper with 3.0 seconds left in regulation. Adreana Sadowski had 15 points, nine rebounds and four blocks and Morgan Klunk had 16 points and five assists but also 11 of Bloomsburg's 25 turnovers.

The Warriors led 34-30 at halftime after falling behind 15-6 at the three-minute mark of the first quarter. They never trailed in the second half, leading 52-42 entering the fourth quarter and 67-59 after a layup by Rutkowski, but BU got two free throws by Klunk, then six points in the final minute - layups by Mack and Ross and Mack's game-tying jumper - to send the game to overtime.

Falkowski had a putback for a 69-67 lead a half-minute into overtime, which Ross answered for BU at the 3:48 mark. Those would be the final points of the game for the Huskies, who were 0-for-4 with four turnovers down the stretch.

Reviere gave ESU the lead for good with 2:40 left, Rutkowski scored on an assist from Brown, and Falkowski (2-for-2) and Reviere (4-for-4) were perfect at the foul line late in the overtime.

Howard had her fifth 20-point game of the season and ninth of her career, with Brown scoring 20+ for the third time this season (all off the bench) and Rutkowski, the PSAC's top shot blocker (2.4 bpg), contributing her first career double-double. Howard was 4-for-5 from the three-point for a career-high in made three's.

Reviere is the first ESU player with at least 10 points, seven rebounds and seven assists since Jackie Yandrisevits had 30 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists vs. Lock Haven in January 2009.

ESU is in the PSAC Tournament for the fourth straight year and played its first postseason home game since 2007 under the conference's recent playoff format.

The Warriors beat Bloomsburg for the second time this season, following a 71-66 win on January 30, after dropping 14 straight vs. BU since the start of the 2009-10 season.

ESU head coach Diane Decker, in her first season after seven years as an assistant coach at Bloomsburg under Bill Cleary, won her first PSAC Tournament game at ESU. She previously was acting head coach at ESU during the 2007-08 season, falling in the quarterfinals, following two years as an assistant (2005-06, 2006-07).

The Warriors will look for a rare win vs. West Chester on Tuesday. WCU won both games this season, 84-67 at home on January 9 and 85-77 (OT) at ESU on February 10. WCU has won 9 straight, 18 of the last 19 and 37 of the last 40 in the series since the start of the 1996-97 season. The Golden Rams have won the last 21 at Hollinger Field House since a 72-67 win by the Warriors on February 22, 1995.


GAME NOTES
* ESU put 5 players in double figures for the first time since December 17, 2008 at Seton Hill (Rachel Grimes 13, Kristen Murray 13, DeAnna Rayam 13, Keri Cahill 12, Jackie Yandrisevits 10)
* Brown (22) and Howard (20) are the first ESU teammates with 20+ points in the same game since November 25, 2013 vs. Concordia (Fayola Moise 23, Jessica Martin 22)
* Brown had her 3rd game with 20+ points off the bench this season - the most since Alyssa Antolick had 6 games with 20+ in 2006-07
* Rutkowski is the first ESU player with a double-double in a postseason game since at least 1996


PSAC Tournament Update

Quarterfinals (Tuesday) - East
#1 West Chester vs. #4 ESU (won 79-69 OT vs. #5 Bloomsburg)
#2 Shippensburg vs. #3 Millersville (won 71-52 vs. #6 Lock Haven)

West
#1 California vs. #4 Edinboro (won 61-42 vs. #5 Mercyhurst)
#2 IUP vs. #3 Gannon (won 64-58 vs. #6 Seton Hill)

Semifinals/Final (Saturday/Sunday March 5-6) - at West top remaining seed after quarterfinals