Cal wins PSAC title, to host NCAA regional
BLOOMSBURG – Good free-throw shooting has won the California University women’s basketball team several games this season.
On Sunday afternoon, free-throw shooting enabled the Vulcans to win the PSAC championship and earn the right to host the Atlantic Regional in the NCAA Division II tournament.
California made 33 of 35 free throws and received a 30-point performance from tournament Most Valuable Player Miki Glenn as the Vulcans defeated West Chester 86-70 in the championship game at Bloomsburg University.
The win clinched a berth in the Division II tournament for No. 18-ranked Cal (26-4), and because of its run through the PSAC, the Vulcans were given the top seed in the Atlantic Regional, which begins Friday afternoon. Cal will play eighth-seeded Virginia State (19-9), the CIAA tournament champion.
West Chester (24-5) received an-large berth to the NCAA tournament and is one of five PSAC teams in the regional.
The Vulcans got off to a slow start against West Chester, the East Division runner-up which upset Indiana in the semifinals. West Chester scored the game’s first six points and maintained the lead until Cal put together a 14-0 run to grab a 25-15 advantage. Glenn scored half of the Vulcans’ points during the surge.
Cal led by as many as 11 points in the first half, but West Chester made a push over the final 20 minutes, twice pulling to within one point, the last time at 45-44 with 11:54 remaining.
A three-pointer by senior guard Kaitlynn Fratz, who finished with 17 points after scoring 32 in the semifinal win over Bloomsburg, gave Cal some breathing room and the Vulcans maintained a lead the rest of the way. West Chester was still within three points at 65-62 with 5:28 left, but Cal’s Emma Mahady made a jump shot and the Vulcans embarked on a 13-2 run.
Cal protected the lead with some torrid free-throw shooting. The Vulcans made 24 of 26 free throws in the second half. Glenn, a sophomore point guard, made 16 of 17 free throws and also had three assists and three steals.
Mahady finished with 17 points and matched Fratz for the team lead with eight rebounds.
Brittany Sicinski paced West Chester with 24 points and Anna Kuntz scored 17. The Rams had five more field goals than Cal but made only 11 of 19 free throws.
The conference title is the sixth for California, the first since 2006 and the first under head coach Jess Strom.
The Cal-Virginia State winner will play either fourth-seeded West Chester or fifth-seeded West Liberty (23-8), the Mountain East Conference tournament champion, in the second round. Indiana (25-3) received the No. 2 seed and will play Shepherd (21-9) in the first round. The winner of that game play either third-seeded Bloomsburg (24-4) or Gannon (21-7). Times for the first-round games will be announced later this week.