The 14th-ranked Gannon University women’s basketball team pulled out two road wins over East Stroudsburg, 76-57, Saturday and California University of Pennsylvania, 61-54, Monday.

However, the men’s team didn’t have the same luck.

The men’s team dropped both games on the road to East Stroudsburg, 66-61, Saturday and California (Pa.), 80-59, Monday.

On Saturday, the women’s team got out to a big first-quarter lead, outscoring the Warriors 29-15.

That lead only got bigger as the Knights led 46-25 at the break.

Samantha Pirosko led the way in the first half with eight points for Gannon and finished with a team-high 15 points to go with four rebounds and two blocks in the blowout.

Delaney Dogan contributed a double-double with 11 points and 10 boards.

McKel Nation added 12 points as well.

The Knights’ efficient shooting (47.6%) and 20 forced turnovers were the big reasons behind gaining their 12th victory of the season.

In Monday’s matchup, it wasn’t until the second quarter that the Knight women hit their stride.

They opened that quarter on a 7-0 run to put them up 20-15 thanks to a converted and-one layup from Emma Wright. Wright’s bucket gave the Knights the lead for good when they went up 18-15.

While a good third quarter gave Gannon an 11-point advantage entering the fourth quarter, Cal U. was relentless.

A layup from Brionna Allen cut the Knights’ lead to 46-42, but Gannon didn’t let it get any closer thanks to key baskets from Emily Poling.

Poling was one of three Knights in double figures in the win with 10 points.

Pirosko led the team in scoring with 15 points, while Wright added 14 points of her own and yanked down 13 rebounds. The Knights as a team hit on 24 of 28 free-throw attempts.

Gannon improved to 13-2, including an impressive 6-2 conference record.

On the other hand, the men’s team wasn’t so lucky with its games.

In the matchup with East Stroudsburg, Gannon fought the whole first half to stay within single digits and trailed 31-22 at the break.

Lance Amir-Paul got the last three points of the half to keep the Knights within striking distance.

Amir-Paul was Gannon’s leading scorer and rebounder in the loss as he tallied 14 points and 13 rebounds.

Ali Ragab was the second Knight to record a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds, seven of which were offensive.

Gannon wouldn’t go away, however, and cut the Warrior lead to just four points with 40 seconds to go in the game.

East Stroudsburg would ice the game with clutch free throws from Troy Jones and Marc Rodriguez.

Gannon turned it over 17 times and shot 19% from behind the arc in the loss.

Against Cal U, the Knights held a slim 15-14 lead early until the Vulcans turned it up.

California went on a staggering 31-8 run the rest of the half to put the game out of reach for Gannon.

Alston Philip had a near double-double in the first half alone with 15 points and 9 rebounds for the Vulcans.

He finished with 18 points and 10 rebounds for the game.

Amir-Paul nearly scored half the Knights’ points, finishing with 24, 15 of which came in the second half when they narrowly outscored California 36-35.

Gannon falls to 8-5 overall but keeps its head above water in the conference, sitting at 5-4.

Gannon’s women are scheduled to take on Clarion at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Hammermill Center and will host Slippery Rock at 5:30 p.m. Monday.

The Knight men are scheduled to host Clarion at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, then travel to Pitt-Johnstown for a 3 p.m. game Saturday before taking on Indiana (Pa.) at 7 p.m. Monday on the road.

TIMOTHY CORSO

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