Saint Vincent comes up big against W&J
Holly Tonini/Observer-Reporter
W&J’s Kylie McKennen drives to the basket while St. Vincent’s Carlee Kilgus (1) and Erin Giancola (40) defend Wednesday night.
Holly Tonini/Observer-Reporter
W&J’s Lauren Gilbert scores two against St. Vincent’s Kayla Slovenec
W&J’s Aleena McDaniel looks to make a pass around St. VIncent’s Paige Montrose (32)
W&J’s Danielle Parker looks to make a pass around St. Vincent’s Paige Montrose
W&J’s Alie Seto makes a pass around St. Vincent’s Madison Kollar (45) and Paige Montrose (32)
Conventional wisdom suggests that late November is too early in the basketball season for any game to be called big or put in the must-win category, even if it’s the conference opener. The reasoning is there are simply too many league games to be played, too many upsets and pitfalls to be avoided and too many unknowns to make too much out of a November game.
That was not the approach Washington & Jefferson women’s coach Jina DeRubbo and Saint Vincent coach Jimmy Petruska took to the Presidents’ Athletic Conference opener Wednesday night at Henry Memorial Center. After all, W&J and Saint Vincent were tied for first place in the PAC’s preseason poll and the winner of this game would have an early leg up on the top seed for home-court advantage in the conference tournament that will be played in February.
“It was a big game,” DeRubbo admitted.
“A huge game,” Petruska offered. “I know the conference schedule is set two years in advance and it’s done by computer, so there is no rhyme or reason to this game being the conference opener.”
There were, however, plenty of reasons that Saint Vincent came away with a 69-58 victory.
The Bearcats (1-0, 4-2) held W&J to 28 percent shooting in the first half, forced 17 turnovers in the game and finished on a 17-6 run after the Presidents rallied from a double-digit deficit and tied the score in the fourth quarter.
It was Saint Vincent’s first win at W&J since January of 2014.
In this “big game,” it was the Bearcats’ smallest player, 5-3 senior guard Maria Morgan, who played a huge role. Morgan made five of six three-point attempts and scored 15 points. Long-range shooting was the difference as Saint Vincent was 7-for-24 from behind the arc while W&J was 3-for-20.
Morgan, who has free reign to shoot three-pointers in the Bearcats’ offense, did a good job of picking her spots.
After Saint Vincent forged a 29-20 halftime lead, W&J mounted a second-half charge and closed to within 43-41 when Lauren Gilbert completed a three-point play with six seconds left in the third quarter.
With Gilbert at the free-throw line, the Bearcats subbed in Morgan. Somehow, W&J lost track of her on the ensuing inbounds play and Morgan was left alone in the right corner. She calmly made a three-pointer as time expired in the quarter, giving Saint Vincent a 46-41 lead and taking some spark out of the Presidents.
“That was a killer,” DeRubbo admitted. “She hit some big shots.”
“We put her in the game and that’s what we wanted from her,” Petruska said. “She’s our captain, our leader.”
It wasn’t the only clutch shot Saint Vincent made. After a three-pointer by freshman guard Aleena McDaniel and Lauren Gilbert’s coast-to-coast drive for a layup capped a 7-0 run by W&J that tied the score at 52-52 with 5:30 remaining, Saint Vincent’s Paige Montrose made a 17-foot jumper and teammate Jenna Lafko sank a three-pointer from the corner to put Saint Vincent back in front, 57-52.
The Presidents would make only two field goals the rest of the way.
Montrose led Saint Vincent with 16 points and Lafko had 14.
“Morgan hit a big three at the end of the third quarter, then Paige hit a jumper at the elbow and Lafko made a big three. Those were big shots,” Petruska said.
W&J was led by Allie Seto with 18 points. She was the only President in double figures. Lauren Gilbert, the team’s leading scorer, and Danielle Parker, who last weekend scored her 1,000th career point, each were held to nine points, going a combined 7-for-30 from the field. Parker did have a game-high 11 rebounds.
“We need to be more consistent. Our decision-making has to be better,” DeRubbo said. “That will only come with time.
“In the first half, we had 12 turnovers. We didn’t have enough shots. Saint Vincent played hard and fast. That made us play fast, and when we play fast, we turn it over.”
The loss leaves W&J at 0-1 in the PAC and 2-5 overall.
“I’m not used to this,” DeRubbo said. “The program is not used to this. We can either continue pouting and blaming or we can get better. We don’t have to be the best team today. We have to be the best team in February.”
SV, 84-78, OT
Progress has been slow for the Washington & Jefferson men’s basketball program in head coach Ethan Stewart-Smith’s first three seasons as the Presidents went without a breakthrough victory that would jump-start a struggling program.
The Presidents almost had one such win in the PAC opener against Saint Vincent, the team picked in the conference’s preseason to win the league.
Saint Vincent’s Cletus Helton banked in a running 25-foot three-pointer as time expired in regulation to force overtime, then the Bearcats made five free throws in the final 25 seconds of the extra session to edge W&J, 84-78.
The Presidents (0-1, 2-5) outplayed Saint Vincent (1-0, 6-1) for much of the game and led by seven points with 8:17 remaining and clung to a 64-61 lead with 1:37 left after two free throws by Primo Zini, who led W&J with 22 points.
Saint Vincent’s Tom Kromka, who scored a game-high 25 points, grabbed an offensive rebound and turned it into a three-point play to make it 64-64 with 36 seconds left.
Zini then drove for a basket to put W&J back in front by two points. After the Bearcats missed a shot from in close, W&J’s Cameron Seeman made one of two free throws that made it 67-64 with seven seconds to play.
After a timeout, Helton banked in his three-pointer from deep as the buzzer sounded.
Saint Vincent took the lead for good at 75-73 on a basket by Kromka.
Dave Stephen had 18 points for the Bearcats, who avoided losing the PAC opener for the second consecutive year. Ryan Dutton had 14 points.
Seeman scored 19 points and Zach Queen 12 for the Presidents.