PSAC Women's Basketball Athletes of the Week - 15 (Mar. 1)
PSAC Women's Basketball Weekly Release - Mar. 1 (pdf)
Bloomsburg' Kelsey Gallagher and West Chester's Alex Lennon both turned in performances that helped their respective teams go 2-0 on the week to clinch postseason berths and for their performances are this week's PSAC East Player and Freshman of the Week. California's Brooque Williams and IUP's Sarah Pastorek both repeat this week as the PSAC West Player and Freshman of the Week, respectively, after both also led their teams to 2-0 records in the final week of the season.
PSAC Players of the Week - Mar. 1
PSAC East Player of the Week
Kelsey Gallagher, Bloomsburg
G, So., East Stroudsburg, Pa./ES South
Gallagher turned in two big performances for Bloomsburg to help the Huskies to a 2-0 week and into the conference tournament for the first time since the 2004-05 season after the Huskies had been on the outside looking in heading into last week. Gallagher, last year’s PSAC East Freshman of the Year, averaged 25.5 points, 3.0 rebounds and 1.5 assists while shooting 62.1 percent from the floor (18-for-29) in wins over Mansfield and Kutztown. In Wednesday’s win at Mansfield, she scored a game-high 24 points on 9-of-14 shooting, including 4-for-4 from the free throw line. In a narrow five-point win at Kutztown on Saturday, Gallagher scored a game-high 27 points on 9-of-15 shooting and also added four rebounds. For the week, Gallagher also made 6-of-14 from three-point range (42.9 percent) and was 9-of-10 from the free throw line.
PSAC East Freshman of the Week
Alex Lennon, West Chester
F, Fr., Lansdowne, Pa./Shipley School
Lennon helped the Golden Rams to a 2-0 week, which clinched a spot in the PSAC Tournament for them after entering the week tied with two other teams for the final two playoff spots. Lennon averaged 11.0 points and 6.0 rebounds in just 26 minutes of action combined over the two games and shot 58.8 percent from the field (10-for-17). She tied a career high with 13 points and also pulled down seven rebounds in Wednesday’s key win over Shippensburg and she followed that up with nine points and five boards in the playoff spot-clinching win over East Stroudsburg on Saturday.
PSAC West Player of the Week
Brooque Williams, California
G, Sr., Pittsburgh, Pa./Perry
Williams averaged 28.5 points, 6.0 rebounds, 3.0 steals and 1.5 assists while shooting 52.4 percent from the floor (22-for-42) and 86.7 percent (13-for-15) from the free throw line to help lead California to a 2-0 week and wrap up the No. 2 seed in the PSAC West in the upcoming PSAC Tournament. Williams scored 27 points and had eight rebounds and two steals in Wednesday’s win over Slippery Rock. She then finished the regular season by posting her 11th career 30-point game with 30 points on 13-of-21 shooting in Saturday’s win over Mercyhurst. Williams enters the postseason just 27 points shy of becoming the all-time leading scorer in school history.
PSAC West Freshman of the Week
Sarah Pastorek, IUP
F, Fr., Johnstown, Pa./Bishop McCort
Pastorek averaged 12.5 points, 4.0 rebounds, 3.0 blocks and a steal per game in a 2-0 week for the IUP that helped the Crimson Hawks lock up the No. 3 seed out of the West for the PSAC Tournament. Pastorek began the week with seven points, four rebounds and four blocks in a two-point overtime win at Edinboro. She ended the week with 18 points, four rebounds and a pair of blocks in a win over Slippery Rock.
PSAC Team Notes
Bloomsburg Huskies
Seemingly on the outside of the PSAC tournament picture at the beginning of the week, the Huskies defeated Mansfield 87-54 on the road on Wednesday and won at Kutztown 72-67 on Saturday…The Huskies also needed help to make the tournament, as Cheyney defeated Shippensburg on Saturday to give BU the third seed…They will now again play at Kutztown, the number two seed, on Tuesday…In the win against the Mountaineers, all 11 Huskies played and four scored in double-figures, including So. G Kelsey Gallagher who had 24 points and Fr. G Dana Wieller who had 18, hitting 5-of-8 three-pointers, while Fr. G Alyssa Flanagan added eight assists…Against the Golden Bears, Gallagher again led the scoring with 27 points, shooting 9-of-15 from the floor, including 4-of-8 from three-point range…Wieller again scored 18 points, going a perfect 8-of-8 from the foul line.
California Vulcans
The Vulcans finished the regular season in second place in the PSAC West standings with an 11-3 record…Cal U will now make its 10th-straight appearance in the PSAC Tournament, beginning with a home game on Tuesday against rival IUP…The Vulcans swept the season series with the Crimson Hawks, but IUP has won all three post-season meetings…Head coach Mark Swasey will be making his first appearance in the PSAC Tournament this week after posting a combined 12-3 record in the last two post-seasons while at Franklin Pierce (N.H.)…Sr. G Brooque Williams moved into eighth place all-time in PSAC history with 2,091 points…Williams, who posted her 11th career 30-point game on Saturday, enters the post-season only 27 shy of becoming the all-time leading scorer in school history…Jr. F Kayla Smith finished the regular season with 22 double-doubles in 27 games.
Cheyney Wolves
Cheyney ended the 2009-10 campaign on a winning note defeating Shippensburg 71-66 and falling short of the PSAC Post Season Basketball Championships for the first time in three years...Lutfiyya Muhammad went over 1,000 points for her career. She did score 20 points while at Delaware State before transferring to Cheyney. Muhammad tallied double figures in all but one game this year...Cheyney did not make the post season basketball tournament for the first time in three years...Angel Stephens ended the season with 12 double doubles. Cheyney said good-bye to eight players Saturday who wore the blue and white for the final time. The players were; Angel Stephens, Lutfiyya Muhammad, Stephanie Orji, Charnelle Taylor, Carla McPherson, Georgia Anderson, Angel Henderson and Leslie Miranda.
Clarion Golden Eagles
Lizzie Suwala averaged 18.1 ppg this year, the sixth-best mark in school history and finished the year with 488 points, the 8th most in school history. She scored her 1,000th career point Wed. vs. Lock Haven and finished with 1,017 including 845 in 71 games at Clarion after netting 172 in one year at IUP…Clarion secured its second winning season in the last 3 seasons at 14-13…The Golden Eagles blocked a school record 165 shots this year, the third time in the last three years Clarion has blocked 150 shots. Prior to 2008, the Eagle had blocked 100 or more shots only three times in school history and never more than 137…Sara Pratt finished her career with 177 blocks, the 2nd most in school history, 685 rebounds, the 8th most at Clarion, and 839 points. Bethany Koch finished with 890 career points.
East Stroudsburg Warriors
ESU finished 2009-10 with 4-23 record under acting head coach Justin Potts, who enters PSAC men's basketball playoffs as assistant for ESU's 23-4 team...ESU nearly upset No. 23 Millersville on Senior Night, falling 52-49...Overcame 17-point halftime deficit to lead 42-40 with 7 minutes left...Finished season with 88-69 loss at West Chester...Fr. G Barb Borst averaged 12.1 ppg with 59.5 3-point percentage in February...12 points (2-4 3's) vs. Millersville and 17 points (4-6 3's) at WCU...Sr. F DeAnna Rayam scored 1,046 career points, 12th in school history...143 free throws in 2009-10 are second in school history, 349 career free throws are fifth...Sr. G Mel Villano started 106 career games...Seniors Rayam, Villano and Alexa Detzi were members of 2006-07 PSAC East regular season championship team.
Edinboro Fighting Scots
Edinboro's 78-66 win over Clarion clinched the Fighting Scots' first PSAC playoff berth since the 2006-07 season and is the 15th under head coach Stan Swank…Edinboro celebrated Senior Day against the Golden Eagles and each of the three seniors played a large role in the win. Samantha Reimer scored 19 points, going 12 of 12 from the line, to become just the second player in Edinboro history - male or female - to score 1,900 points. She has 1,912 points. Tyrone Mason scored 1,954 points in three seasons for the men's basketball team…Kelsey Conklin had her second double-double of the season with 12 points and a season-high 15 rebounds…Casey Heller was held scoreless in the first half, but in the second half she scored 12 points while making a career-high four 3-pointers…Samantha Blazetic blocked three shots vs. Clarion, giving her 69 for the season. That is the fourth-highest total in a season.
Gannon Golden Knights
Gannon completed the first perfect regular season (30-0) in school history with victories last week against Mercyhurst (71-47) and Lock Haven (78-52)...The Lady Knights were ranked No. 1 in the February 23 USA Today ESPN Division II Top 25 Coaches Poll. It represents the first No. 1 national ranking in school history...The Knights have won 40 consecutive regular-season games dating back to last season...The program's last regular-season loss came January 24, 2009 at IUP...Gannon has won 46 consecutive games when leading at halftime...The Knights are 12-0 at home this season and have won 24 of their last 25 homes games. Gannon won the PSAC Western Division regular-season title and has home-court advantage throughout the PSAC Tournament...The squad has set a school record for victories in a season (30) and is four wins shy of the Division II record for consecutive wins in a season.
IUP Crimson Hawks
IUP wrapped up third place in the PSAC West and an opening round playoff game at California with wins over Edinboro and Slippery Rock to conclude the regular season...The Crimson Hawks won 10 division games, losing only twice to No. 1 Gannon and California...This will be the fourth straight year that IUP and California will meet in the PSAC playoffs, with the Crimson Hawks winning the past three in the conference championship game...IUP is 47-17 in the PSAC West over the past five years...Hillary Shope scored IUP's final seven points in overtime, including two free throws with 1.6 seconds left, to give the Crimson Hawks their ninth straight win over Edinboro...Shope is the top free throw shooter in school history at 80.4...Fellow Sr. Kierstin Filla had nine assists, one shy of her career high, in the win over Slippery Rock.
Kutztown Golden Bears
Vivian Melvin has 106 assists to lead the team...Melissa McQuade raised her career scoring total to 1,128 points, which is eighth all-time on the Kutztown scoring list…She needs seven points to move past Janelle Needham (1,134) and into seventh place…Rachel Wisemiller has 984 career points…Meredith Starr tied her career high with consecutive 14 point outings in Kutztown's games last week against Cheyney and Bloomsburg…Kutztown trailed Cheyney by 10 points in the first half and rallied to win, 75-72…It was the second time this season, KU has overcome a double-digit deficit to beat Cheyney…This will be the fifth playoff meeting all-time between Kutztown and Bloomsburg and first since 2001. The Golden Bears are 1-3 against Bloomsburg in PSAC playoff action. Kutztown's only victory over Bloomsburg in a PSAC playoff game was a 61-59 decision in 1999 in a game played at Kutztown. This season, Bloomsburg won both meetings against the Golden Bears.
Lock Haven Bald Eagles
Lock Haven went 0-2 last week to close out the 2009-10 season...A 2-0 league mark two weeks ago prevented the Lady Eagles from going winless in PSAC West action...On the year, LHU went 7-18 overall and 2-12 in West play...On the year a huge bright spot for The Haven was Jr. Kristen Kudrick who led LHU in scoring with 11.2 points-per-game. She also pulled down 5.9 rebounds a game, marking solid return this year after missing all of last season...Sr. Casi Donelan closed out a solid LHU career. This season she averaged 10.4 points/game while leading The Haven's offense.
Mansfield Mountaineers
The Mountaineers finished the season at 5-21 the fewest wins in a season since going 3-23 in 2000-01…Mallory Hafer ended her career with a school record 192 3-pointers…Her 69 this season is the second most in a season in school history.
Mercyhurst Lakers
Mercyhurst concluded its 2009-10 season with a 12-14 record, 4-10 in PSAC West play…The Lakers have posted 10+ wins during each of the last two seasons, the first consecutive 10+ win campaigns since a 10-year streak from 1988-89 through 1997-98…The Lakers set a single-season program record for free throw percentage at .754, and narrowly missed breaking the field goal and 3-point percentage records…Mercyhurst's 175 made threes in 2009-10 are the third most in program history…Jr. Amy Achesinski is 10th all-time with 1,166 points and eight with 615 rebounds, and has posted 21 double-doubles…Jr. Samantha Loadman led the PSAC with 50 made three-pointers in divisional play, making 70 overall, giving her 172 for her career, good for third at Mercyhurst…Sr. Lindsay Whipkey posted a career-best five assists Saturday, tying Dana Banda for the team high, the second time this season in which two Lakers dished out five or more helpers.
Millersville Marauders
Millersville wrapped up a 13-1 PSAC East slate with wins at East Stroudsburg and against Mansfield this past week…The Marauders have now won the division title outright or shared it in each of the last three seasons…MU boasts NCAA Division II's best scoring defense and on Wednesday it held ESU to a season-low 12 points in the first half…Fr. Mashira Newman picked up her first career double-double against ESU with 14 points and 10 rebounds…Jr. Dominique Stroman scored a career-high 16 points in MU's 72-42 win over Mansfield…The Marauders have won nine in a row and 16-of-17 heading into the PSAC Tournament…Millersville is still unbeaten at Pucillo Gymnasium this season with a 13-0 record…Sr. Jenna Craig was a double-figure scorer in both games this week. It's the third time this season Craig has had back-to-back double-digit scoring outputs. Coach Mary Fleig's countdown to 500 wins is at nine.
Shippensburg Red Raiders
Shippensburg suffered losses to West Chester and Cheyney that eliminated the Lady Raiders from the playoffs...Four seniors concluded their Lady Raider careers on Saturday...In addition to Lauren Beckley, twin sisters Sheila Wasser and Shelley Wasser complemented injured guard Ally Briggs in the 2009-10 class...Beckley was an inspirational hero and one of the greatest players the conference has ever seen, scoring more points (2,407) than any player in the league and ranking 15th all-time in Division II...Beckley established SU career marks with 263 three-pointers (fourth-best in PSAC history), 532 free throws (third-best in PSAC history) and a career free throw percentage of 84.8 (second-best in PSAC history)...Beckley scored in double digits for 108 of her 113 career games (including 59 career double-doubles), just shy of Ashley Totedo's school record...She finished her career with two 40-point games along with 19 games of 30 or more points and 64 games of 20 or more points.
Slippery Rock - The Rock
Slippery Rock finishes the season with a 6-21 overall record and a 3-10 record in the PSAC-West…In their final two games, The Rock fell to both California and Indiana…Julie Molloy led the team in both games scoring a combined 26 points including 18 against the Vulcans…Nikki Presto recorded a season high eight assists against California, while Emilee Vitez had 11 rebounds for the week…Molloy finishes the season the team's leading scorer with 12.2 points/game…Presto led the team in rebounds (4.7 per game) and assists (3.6 per game)…Presto also finishes the season as the only Rock player to record double-digit rebounds, which she did in two games.
West Chester Golden Rams
West Chester won both its contests last week to secure the fourth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Division…The Golden Rams erased a 12-point deficit in the final five minutes of regulation against Shippensburg to force overtime where they eventually won the game…The Golden Rams are making their fourth consecutive trip to the PSAC Tournament as they have now qualified for the playoffs in 14 of the last 15 years…West Chester is 1-5 all-time in the PSAC Tournament against Millersville and 0-3 on the road…The two have not met since the 2006-07 postseason - a 57-54 Millersville upset win in Hollinger…The only West Chester win over Millersville in the postseason came in 2000-01 (94-80)…WCU head coach Deirdre Kane is making her 17th trip to the postseason…Kane is 10-17 all-time in the PSAC Tournament…West Chester has reached the PSAC semifinals in each of the past two seasons, losing to IUP each time…West Chester has not reached the PSAC Tournament championship game since 2003 - a 58-54 loss at the hands of California (Pa.).