Clarion University’s men’s and women’s basketball teams will be back on the road Saturday evening when they travel to Memorial Fieldhouse on the campus of the Indiana University of Pennsylvania to take on the IUP Indians. The women’s game starts at 6 p.m. followed by the men’s game at 8 p.m.

Clarion’s women’s team will be in search of its fifth consecutive win when the Golden Eagles bring their 8-7 overall and 2-0 PSAC-West record into IUP to face the Indians, who are 8-7 overall and 0-1 in the PSAC-West.

The Golden Eagles are coming off an exciting 77-74 win at Edinboro Wednesday night that came on the heels on three straight wins last week including victories over the No. 1 team in the East Region at the time Shippensburg (75-67) Wednesday and the No. 4 team in the East Region at the time Kutztown (66-52) Sunday. Clarion also had a 64-50 win Saturday over East Stroudsburg in a game that marked head coach Margaret "Gie" Parsons’ 300^th career win.

In the Edinboro game, Clarion got 50 of its 77 points from the post-player trio of Christina Lantz, Heather Cigich and Courtney Willman.

Lantz, a senior, scored 17 points, while Willman a freshman, scored 20 points on 8-for-8 shooting while hauling in seven rebounds. Willman, a junior, added 13 points and seven rebounds coming off the bench.

On the season, Clarion is a well balanced team with six players averaging 8.0 ppg.

Lantz, last week’s co-PSAC-West Player of the Week, is the top scorer for the Golden Eagles averaging 16.5 ppg, which is good for second best in the PSAC. She is also second on the team and 13^th in the conference in rebounding with 8.2 rpg. Her 57.4 percent shooting percentage is second best in the PSAC-West and third best in the PSAC.

Cigich, last week’s PSAC-West Rookie of the Week, is averaging 12.5 ppg and leads the teams with 9.1 rpg, which is good for sixth best in the PSAC.

Willman, who has come of the bench in nine of Clarion’s 15 games, is third on the team in scoring averaging 9.3 ppg and third in rebounding averaging 5.6 rpg. With a shooting percentage of 57.7 percent she is the top shooter in the PSAC-West and the second leading shooter in the PSAC.

Tameka Washington is adding 8.7 ppg for Clarion, who is also getting 8.5 ppg from Allison Stodart and 8.2 ppg and 3.6 apg from Tiffany Taylor. The Golden Eagles are also getting quality minutes and strong defensive play from Lindsay Kostorick, who is averaging 2.9 ppg to go along with a team high 26 steals.

IUP is coming off an 87-67 loss at Shippensburg Wednesday in the PSAC-West opener for the Indians. In the game, Jacquie Negrelli led IUP with 29 points while Sarah Zdesar had 16 points and seven rebounds.

Negrelli is the PSAC’s leading scorer averaging 21.2 ppg and the conference’s leading assist giver with 5.87 apg.

Zdesar is adding 14.1 ppg and 9.8 rpg, which is good for second in the PSAC, while Jess Conner is contributing 7.9 ppg. Jacqui Martin is chipping in with 7.6 ppg and 6.6 rpg, Emily McMahan is scoring 7.3 ppg and Courtnay Rattigan is adding 6.4 ppg.

Last season Clarion and IUP spilt their two games with IUP winning 81-47 at Clarion and the Golden Eagles getting a 70-67 win at Memorial Fieldhouse.

Clarion’s men’s team will be looking to rebound from a 76-62 loss at Edinboro Wednesday when it invades Memorial Fieldhouse to face an Indians team that is 13-1 on the season and 1-0 in the PSAC-West. IUP has won 12 games in a row after its 92-57 win over Shippensburg Wednesday.

While the Golden Eagles (7-5 overall, 1-1 PSAC-West) lost to Edinboro Wednesday they have won three of their past four games including a 91-61 win over Shippensburg Jan. 9.

Clarion is led by the third leading scorer in the PSAC and the second leading scorer in the PSAC-West Steve Serwatka. Serwatka is averaging 19.2 ppg but is coming off a three-point night at Edinboro that saw him hit only one of 10 shots. The game broke a streak of 22 consecutive double-digit scoring games for Serwatka who was last held under 10 points by Slippery Rock on Jan. 31, 2001. The Rock limited the shooting guard to eight tallies.

Allen Stevens is the second leading scorer for Clarion, the 14^th leading scorer in the PSAC and the eighth leading scorer in the PSAC-West averaging 15.1 ppg. Stevens went over the 1,000 career points mark when he scored 21 against Edinboro Wednesday. He now has 1,002 points making him the 22^nd player in school history to score over 1,000 career points. Stevens is also second on the team with 7.0 rpg which is good for 15^th in the PSAC.

Rollie Smith is adding 11.0 ppg and 4.7 apg, which is good for third best in the PSAC, while Dale Thomas is adding 11.0 ppg and a team-best 7.3 rpg, which is good for 13^th in the conference. David Shearer, who missed four games with an ankle injury earlier in the season, is scoring 8.1 ppg to go along with 4.1 rpg, while Terrance Stokes is chipping in with 4.5 ppg and 4.1 rpg.

IUP is led by Dennis Mims, a transfer from Virginia Tech, who is fourth in the conference in scoring (18.6 ppg) while leading the conference in rebounding (11.6 rpg).

Two other Indians are averaging double figures including Aaron Faulkner (16.9 ppg & 4.8 apg) and Leon Piper (12.2 ppg & 8.6 rpg). Faulkner is eighth in the conference in scoring and second in assists, while Piper is 24^th in scoring and fifth in rebounding.

A well-balanced team, IUP has four other player averaging 6.0 ppg or more including Wes Layton (7.9 ppg), Sean Whalen (7.5 ppg), Fannar Olafsson (6.9 ppg) and Keenan Holmes (6.1 ppg). Holmes is just getting back in game shape after missing the season’s first seven contests with an injury. He was IUP’s leading scorer in 2000-2001 averaging 18.3 ppg and 3.6 rpg.

Olafsson is also helping the Indians on the boards averaging 7.1 rpg good for 14^th in the conference.

Last season Clarion beat IUP 83-72 at home before losing to the Indians 80-71 at IUP. The Golden Eagles then got some revenge topping IUP 79-73 at Memorial Fieldhouse in the opening round of the PSAC Playoffs.

GAME NOTES: Both games can be heard on WCUC (91.7 FM) in Clarion and on the Internet at www.redzonemedia.com ... IUP’s women’s team enters the game as the top scoring team in the PSAC averaging 77.8 ppg while Clarion is the fourth best averaging 73.3 ppg ... Clarion’s women’s team is fifth in the conference in free-throw shooting percentage averaging 68.4% (201-294) while IUP is eighth averaging 67.7% (260-384) ... Clarion is also third in the conference in field goal percentage (45.9%), while IUP is fifth (45.6%) ... IUP’s men’s team is also the highest scoring PSAC team averaging 84.8 ppg while allowing the second lowest point total per game in the conference at 67.9 ppg ... The Indians have won their 13 games by an average of 20.3 ppg ... Clarion enters the game as the fourth best scoring team in the conference averaging 78.8 ppg and as the fourth best defensive team allowing 68.6 ppg ... Clarion is the second best free-throw shooting team in the conference averaging 73.3% (170-232) while IUP is fifth in the conference averaging 69.6% (245-352).

GOLDEN EAGLE NOTES: Both of Clarion’s team’s return to action Wednesday when they host Lock Haven ... The women’s game is set for 6 p.m. followed by the men’s game at 8 p.m. ... Parsons, who is in her 21^st year of coaching, has a career record of 302-231 (56.7%) ... She is the winningest coach in Clarion history with a record of 192-158 (54.8%) ... She was also 110-73 in eight seasons at Thiel before coming to Clarion for the 1989-90 season ... Clarion’s men’s coach Dr. Ron Righter is also the winningest coach in school history with a record of 224-134 (62.5%) in his 14^th year at Clarion ... Now in his 16^th season as a head coach, Righter has an overall coaching record of 248-159 ((60.9%) having spent two seasons at Wilkes in the early 1980's.