Box Score Indiana (Pa.), – For Carly Gallagher, it was déjà vu all over again. She clearly likes playing at the Kovalchick Conference and Athletic Complex, as the redshirt sophomore exploded for 15 second-half points in leading the Marauders to a 60-53 win over No. 16 Indiana (Pa.) Saturday evening.
 
After a finish last year in which she hit the game-winning 3-pointer at the buzzer, Gallagher was getting shut out at half, with no points and just one shot taken and the Marauders trailed 29-27. But the East Stroudsburg native didn't flinch; she knew her opportunity was coming. “The only thing that was going through my mind in the first half was that I was helping my teammates out,” Gallagher said.
 
“Coach (Mary Fleig) gave me confidence and had confidence in me, telling me, 'the first play is for you, Carly,'” Gallagher explained. “Knowing that she has confidence in me just built my confidence and I fed off of that.” The Marauder guard came out of the locker room firing, scoring in a flurry on the strength of four 3-pointers. For the game, Gallagher went 4-of-6 from the field and a perfect 4-for-4 from deep, missing just one in the second half.
 
“We needed to get her the ball,” Fleig said of the urgency to get Gallagher touches. “We ran probably the first three plays for her in the second half and she delivered. Going 4-for-4 tonight, I think she likes playing in this gym. She was 6-for-10 last year from three, so that was the main thing at half.”
 
Millersville improves to 9-4 (6-3 PSAC) with the huge road upset and drops IUP to 11-4 and 6-3 in conference play. Mashira Newman was the only other Marauder in double figures, scoring 12 points to go along with seven rebounds and five assists. Newman's biggest heroics came at the line, as five of her points came at the line within the last minute.
 
After a tough loss Friday night at California (Pa.), Fleig didn't like the communication between herself and her floor general Newman, but felt that connection grow stronger in Saturday's game. “Her and I, there was no connection, no communication, but tonight she stepped up and she delivered for us, making sure we knew what was going on for that full 40 minutes” Fleig said.
 
But the story of this game was Gallagher, who had a big hand in turning the Marauders' two-point halftime deficit into an 11-point lead with just over five minutes to play. In fact, Gallagher knew she was going to hit a rhythm from the moment the first 3-pointer left her hand, saying, “That first three, I knew I was hot, because once it left, it just felt good. I love coming in this gym. You want to upset a nationally-ranked team, that's what you play for and we wanted to prove something and we did that tonight.”
 
Before Gallagher caught fire, Senada Mehmedovic carried Millersville through the first half for the second night in a row. It was a mirror image of last night's game at California (Pa.) for the junior, whose eight points all came in the first stanza.
 
Furthering the “tale of two halves” mantra, the Marauders allowed IUP to shoot 39.3 from the floor in the first half, before clamping down in the second half, as the Crimson Hawks struggled to a 29.2 shooting percentage after the intermission. In addition, the Marauder shooting percentage swelled from 38.7 percent in the first half to a robust 47.1 percent in the second.
 
That credit has to go to Fleig for making the proper adjustment at halftime, and she said her choice to go to the half-court trap paid obvious dividends, as the Marauder defense swarmed the Crimson Hawks, forcing IUP into 14 turnovers on six steals. Mehmedovic led the charge in that category, jumping passing lanes and nabbing four steals of her own for the game.
 
Celeste Robinson has been magnificent stealing passes all season long, and added two more to her total. But just like Newman, Robinson's biggest contribution to the team's win came at the charity stripe in the final minute, as she sank three of her four free throws in that time span. The Kregsville native finished with seven points in the contest.
 
Even more than just rallying in the second half, what impressed Millersville's head coach most was how her team responded after Friday's defeat at the hands of the Vulcans. “I'm very pleased with how we came back from last night's loss,” Fleig said.
 
“It's very hard within 24 hours, to lose the way we did, to correct all those errors,” Fleig continued. “To come out and do everything we needed to do to win this game on the road, I thought we did it with very good class and professionalism.”
 
The Marauders avoided losing three consecutive games for the first time since the end of last season, when the team dropped its final three games to close 2011-12. As big as Saturday night's win was from a momentum standpoint, the most important part of the Marauders' schedule is yet to come, as the team now turns its attention to its final 13 games, all against the PSAC East. First up is Cheyney on Wednesday.
 
The Wolves will visit Pucillo Gymnasium winless at 0-12 (0-9 PSAC). The Marauders have owned the all-time series, holding a 53-15 record against Cheyney, but have been even better in Fleig's tenure, losing just twice in 45 games with her at the helm.