BLOOMSBURG, Pa. — The Millersville Marauders (9-5) fell 73-51 to the Bloomsburg Huskies (9-5), who shot a blistering 54.8% from the field over the first three quarters in the victory. Kali March was just two points short of making history in the loss, finishing with 18 of the 20 points needed for her to reach the 1,000 career point plateau.
 
The Marauders entered the game holding teams to just 31.6% from the field on the season, ranking second in Division II. The Huskies blew that number away, finishing with a mark of 50.9% overall and a scorching 57.1% from three-point territory; the highest Millersville had allowed against a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) opponent previously was the 32.8% that IUP shot on Dec. 21. While the shooting percentage was an aberration, many of the attempts that the Huskies had were uncontested.
 
"I think that we did a great job of defending number 21, Katie Starr, in the post," Mowen said.  "Up until her toss in three-pointer at the end of the game, she only had eight points. She's averaging 20, so we held her under her average-but we also didn't close out fast enough to the three-point line, and they started to get hot. And then once they started to get hot, we didn't make them penetrate or drive. We just allowed them to shoot in our face. So having our hands down on defense and not being close enough to our girl caused us some issues on that side of the ball."
 
The struggles leaked into the offense as well. The Marauders have been automatic at converting baskets in transition off of turnovers, but the Huskies outdid them there as well; the hosts won the points off of turnovers battle 17-7 despite having two less opportunities to do so.  Millersville finished with wins in a few other key categories that have usually led to Marauder victories this year as well. This was its first loss while committing fewer turnovers than their opponent (previously 3-0) and its second loss while scoring more points in the paint than the opposition (previously 9-1).
 
March and freshman Bryn Zentner were the two bright spots for Millersville, leading the team with 18 and 11 points, respectively. March now sits just two points away from 1,000 in her career with 998. It was a homecoming for Zentner, who hails from the Bloomsburg area and was a standout at Bloomsburg Area High School. She shot 5-for-11 from the field and grabbed six rebounds and two steals.
 
Millersville continues its road trip against the Shepherd Rams on Saturday, Jan. 11 at 1p.m.