An energetic, crisp-passing Raider squad decisively broke a seven-game playoff game losing trend on Saturday afternoon from Heiges Field House, dominating No. 6 East Stroudsburg University 83-60.

The victory advanced the No. 3 Raiders to the second round of the playoffs for the first time in 11 seasons; a 2003-04 loss to California University in the PSAC Championships was SU’s most recent playoff run.

“It means a great deal to get the playoff win and kind of get the monkey off our back,” Shippensburg coach Kristy Trn said. “We’ve been the higher seed the last two years in a row, and due to injuries or whatever else we did not get those victories. This was one of our goals this year, to get a win in the playoffs and advance. Now our goal is to win as the underdog.”

Perhaps the biggest surprise in the game turned out to be the Raider’s bench, which scored 35 points total with 22 in the second half. Sophomore Haley Scullion led the team with a career-high 16 points on 7-of-8 shooting in her first double-double at SU (19-10, 14-8 PSAC East), totaling 10 rebounds and three steals.

“After the first shot I made I kind of got a feel for it,” Scullion said. “Once I got hot I was feeling it. The whole team did great today though; everyone shot well. This energy from tonight just needs to transfer over to West Chester next week.”

Freshman Kristin McGeough contributed from the bench at center, hauling in five boards and eight points.

Standout sophomore Morgan Griffith finished a single rebound shy of a double-double, totaling 10 points, 9 boards and three assists. Sophomores Lauren Gold and Colleen Young continued their impressive seasons with 13 points apiece.

For East Stroudsburg (11-16, 10-12 PSAC East) only a single player totaled double-digit points in the contest. Senior Jessica Martin picked up a game-high 20 points to go with seven rebounds and a pair of blocks.

As usual, Shippensburg’s defense showed up to play; PSAC’s No. 2 in defensive rebounds picked up 46 boards to ESU’s 33. The Raiders flew to the ball all game, picking up a 15-8 second-chance point advantage.

“Our focus coming into this game was to reestablish ourselves as one of the top defensive teams,” Trn said. “We certainly did that in the first half, and other than the flurry of activity to start the second half we did it then as well. Our goal was to hold them under their season average, which we did.”

Shippensburg shot a season-high 22-for-26, or 84.6 percent, from the foul line, and only allowed 15 free throw attempts to the Warrior’s 26. East Stroudsburg made a mediocre 46.7 percent of its free throws in the matchup.

It was clear from the get go that the Raiders showed up to play. Griffith scored the game’s first points on a 3-ball, and Shippensburg was off to a 14-4 lead, which they extended to 42-23 by halftime.

The Warriors made a push coming out in the second half, streaking out on a 6-0 run to decrease the deficit to 11 points. Griffith ended that run by sinking another clutch 3-pointer, and the Raiders never looked back. SU would lead by as many as 24 points with 1:07 remaining, ultimately picking up the victory 83-60.

“They’re a very good team, and they’re very well coached up here,” East Stroudsburg interim coach Lynn Ramage said. “For us, there are no excuses though. I just thought they outplayed and outworked us today. We got tired and we fouled too much; the 22 points they scored from the foul line, that’s the difference in the game.”

The Raiders continue their playoff push on Tuesday night, travelling to West Chester (22-4, 18-4 PSAC East) to take on the No. 2 Golden Rams.

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