Mar 1, 2017 5 min read

CALIFORNIA – The California Vulcans pulled out a big win over its rival Edinboro in a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference quarterfinal Wednesday night.

But it came at a high cost.

Less than five minutes into Cal’s hard-fought 64-61 victory over Edinboro (21-9), leading scorer and the Vulcans’ heart and soul, Miki Glenn went up for a rebound and crumbled to the floor upon landing.

The senior and team’s leading scorer at 19.5 points per game was helped off of the court after several minutes and did not return.

Sophomore Abbey Sporio, who replaced Glenn, hit key free throws and made a steal in the final minutes to secure the win.

California will play East Stroudsburg in the semifinals at Shippensburg University at 1 p.m., Saturday.

Sixth-year head coach Jess Strom was thankful for how hard the team battled after Glenn’s injury.

“We have won a lot of big games since I have been here at Cal and I don’t know if I have been equally as proud or more proud than I am right now,” Strom said. “We played without two seniors and for those young kids to play with such emotion and heart, I could not be more proud, especially without our four-year point guard.

“Miki is icing and resting and will get an MRI (today) but (the training staff) doesn’t think it isn’t her ACL.”

Cal (27-2) also played without senior Lana Doran, who was injured in practice Tuesday.

Junior Seairra Barrett, who played all 40 minutes, had nine points and a game-high 11 rebounds.

“When we lost Miki, I felt that everyone thought that we were going to lose the game,” she said. “But then we realized that we had to do it for Miki and played for her.”

The game was tied at 4-4 when Glenn left, and Strom was concerned about how her team would react.

“We always talk about family and when Miki went down, we could have gone one of two ways,” she said. “We could have fell apart or we could have rallied. If one of our family members are down, everyone else has to step up.”

On the first play after Glenn left the game, Sporio blew past her defender for a layup.

Considering Cal missed five layups in the first quarter, it was a good sign Sporio, filling in at point guard, was able to make something happen.

Cal upped its lead to 10-4 with 4:12 to go in the quarter, but it did not score again in the frame.

Despite the missed layups, Cal only trailed, 12-11, heading into the second quarter.

Cal held Katie Fischer, Edinboro’s leading scorer, scoreless in the first quarter and she didn’t score until the 2:17 mark of the second, when she hit the first of back-to-back baskets.

The senior finished with 11 points and eight assists but also had seven turnovers.

In the second quarter, there were four ties and three lead changes. Edinboro scored 12 points in the paint but Cal outscored them 21-17 for a 32-29 lead into the half.

Towards the end of the second quarter, Glenn could be seen being consoled by the training staff while she was trying to control her emotions.

Edinboro outscored Cal in the third quarter, 18-16, to trim its deficit to 48-47.

There were six more lead charges in the fourth quarter, and just when it seemed that either team was about to pull away, the other would counter.

With the game tied at 55-55 with 2:44 to play, Precious Martin, who led all scorers with 19 points, hit a free throw to give Cal a one-point lead. With 1:28 to go, Shatara Parsons hit a pair of free throws, one possession after missing two, to give Cal a 58-55 lead.

Fischer countered with a jumper with 1:03 to go to make the score 58-57, and Parsons, a junior, hit two more free throws to give Cal another three-point lead.

Martin stole the ball from Jontay Walton and took it in for a layup to give Cal a 62-57 lead with 38 seconds to play.

Cheniya Sharpe made a layup for Edinboro, but Sporio calmly hit both free throws to give Cal the 64-59 lead with :24 to go. Michele Jahn hit a pair of free throws to make it 64-61 with eight seconds left.

Barrett missed a pair of free throws but as Fischer was pushing the ball up court, Sporio stripped the ball from her and dribbled out the clock.

Martin was the lone Cal player to hit double figures, but four players had seven or more points.

Cal’s bench outscore Edinboro’s, 20-2.

“Our bench players are playing against the best in the PSAC every single day at practice,” she said. “We know what they can do but sometimes they are tentative, which is understandable because they are young.

They came through big.”

Five players hit double figures for Edinboro with Ciara Rosten leading the way with 14.

Neither team led by more than six points.