Jan 3, 2018 5 min read

Not having its head coach was not a problem for the California University women’s basketball team Wednesday night.

Playing without head coach Jerss Strom, who earlier this week gave birth to a daughter, Jade Elizabeth Strom, the Vulcans remained in first place in the PSAC’s West Division with a 71-53 victory over Gannon at the Convocation Center.

Mia Cushon scored a game-high 24 points, Shatara Parsons was right behind with 23 and Denise Hahn had a big shooting game from long range as Cal improved to 7-0 in the conference and 12-1 overall. The Vulcans, who are ranked No. 10 in NCAA Division II, have won seven in a row.

Cal took control fo the game early, building a 28-13 lead after one quarter. The lead grew to 18 points int he second quarter before Gannon (3-3, 6-6) went on a 10-0 run to close to within 30-23.

The Vulcans, however, used an 8-0 run in the third quarter to open a 60-42 lead and were never threatened the rest of the way.

Cushon also had a game-high eight rebounds to go with her 24 points. Hahn made four of seven three-point shots and finished with 14 points.

Maggie Mitchell was Gannon’s leading scorer with 15 points.

In Strom’s absence, assistant coach Katie Tetzlaw ran the team.

Wash & Jeff 80, Thiel 46: Danielle Parker had a double-double and Washington & Jefferson used a 30-point third quarter to overwhelm host Thiel in a Presidents’ Athletic Conference game.

Parker, a Canon-McMillan graduate, scored 20 points on 9-for-11 shooting and grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds.

Freshman Lauren Gilbert scored 19 points and Amirah Moore had 10 for W&J (5-0, 11-1), which remains tied for first place in the PAC with Thomas More. Maria Lawhorne came off the bench to score a season-high 14 points.

The Presidents led 25-12 after one quarter and 40-21 at halftime. W&J then kicked its offense into high gear in the third quarter, scoring 30 points to open a 70-29 lead.

Jess Vormelker had a big game for Thiel (2-3, 3-8) with 22 points and 10 rebounds.

Waynesburg 81, Chatham 78: Led by an unlikely contributor, Waynesburg beat Chatham in unconventional fashion.

With 14 seconds left and down one point, Waynesburg’s Anna Bartman, who hadn’t scored a point yet in the game and only played 11 minutes, was fouled and went to the free-throw line, making both shots to give the Yellow Jackets a one-point lead.

After getting the ball back almost immediately, Bartman, a Beth-Center graduate, was fouled four seconds later. She again made both free throws to give the Yellow Jackets the 81-78 PAC victory.

Leading the Yellow Jackets (4-1, 8-4) was Addy Knetzer, who scored 27 points and grabbed 14 rebounds. With the Yellow Jackets trailing by five points with four minutes left to play, Knetzer, a Chartiers-Houston graduate, scored five straight points to start a 13-5 Waynesburg run to end the game.

After leading 21-16 after the first quarter, the Cougars scratched back in the second quarter to take a 41-37 lead at half.

Also contributing for Waynesburg was senior guard Rachel Eng with 10 points and 10 assists, and senior forward Mackenna Drazich, an Avella graduate, who scored 13 points.

Ashley McClain, Brittani Smith and Katie Sieg led Chatham (1-4, 3-9) in scoring with 23, 20 and 16 points, respectively.

Men’s results

Waynesburg 70, Chatham 62: Jon Knab and Matt Popeck combined for 44 points and Waynesburg ran its winning streak to six games with a 70-62 victory over host Chatham in a PAC game.

Waynesburg (3-2, 7-5) trailed 33-29 at halftime but used a 14-3 run in the second half to open a 58-53 lead with three minutes remaining.

Knab, fresh off an MVP performance last week in a tournament in Ohio, led Waynesburg with a game-high 24 points. He was 4-for-4 from three-point range. Popeck scored 20 points to go with five assists and three steals. Both Knab and Popeck had five points during the pivotal second-half run.

Isaiah Brown led Chatham (1-4, 4-8) with 15 points.

Gannon 69, California 66: Zay Jackson led five Gannon players in double figures with 15 points and the Golden Knights held off a late charge by California and defeated the Vulcans 69-66 in a PSAC West Division game.

Gannon used an 8-0 run midway through the second half to open a 54-42 lead. The Vulcans trailed by 11 points with four minutes remaining but closed to within 69-66 following a free throw with 24 seconds remaining. The game wasn’t decided until Cordell Smith’s three-point attempt with four seconds remaining missed.

The loss dropped Cal to 2-5 in the conference and 6-7 overall. The Vulcans have lost five of their last six games.

Isaiah Lewis led Cal in scoring with 20 points. Robel Teckle followed in the scoring column with 18 points and Jahmere Howze had 13. The Vulcans did their best work at the free-throw line, where they were 13 for 13.

Gannon evened its PSAC record at 3-3. The Golden Knights are 7-5 overall.

Thiel 65, Wash & Jeff 57: Thiel closed the game on an 8-3 run to pull out a 65-57 victory over visiting Washington & Jefferson in a PAC game.

Thiel led 57-54 with less than four minutes remaining, then held W&J to one field goal down the stretch. Tyreik Burton led Thiel with 15 points. Tyrese Robinson had 10 points. The Tomcats are 2-2 in the conference and 4-5 overall.

Brian Lindquist scored a game-high 20 points to go with eight rebounds for W&J (0-5, 1-11). Lindquist scored 14 of his points in the first half, which ended with W&J leading 31-27. Nicholas Campalong was the only other W&J player in double figures with 10 points.