College notebook: Wise joins Pitt-Johnstown’s 1,000-point club
Washington native Josh Wise became Pitt-Johnstown’s 30th 1,000-point scorer on Feb. 2 in the Mountain Cats’ 76-65 victory over Gannon.
Wise, a former Observer-Reporter Boys basketball Player of the Year at Washington High School, entered the game with 986 career points. He made a pair of free throws with 4:44 remaining to play to reach the milestone.
For the season, Wise is UPJ’s second-leading scorer at 16.4 points per game. He has helped the Mountain Cats to a 14-11 record that includes a 9-9 mark in the PSAC.
A junior guard, Wise is shooting 43 percent from the field, is second on the team with 25 three-pointers and is making 77 percent of his free throws. He also averages 5.8 rebounds per game and is second on the team with 62 assists.
Wise has a season high of 31 points, which he scored in a December game against Kutztown when he made 12 of 16 shots.
In track and field
Richmond’s Rachel Helbing, a freshman from McDonald and a South Fayette graduate, was named the Atlantic 10’s Rookie of the Week following a strong performance at the Penn State National Open on Jan. 25-26.
Helbling won her section of the 400-meter run (56.47) and qualified for the ECACChampionships in the event. Her 400-meter time ranks sixth in the A-10 overall. She was also the first leg on the Spiders all-Freshman 4×400-meter relay which ran 3:50.80 with a split of 56.91 and qualified for the ECAC.
As a 400-meter specialist at South Fayette, Helbing was a four-time qualifier for the PIAA Championships and advanced to the finals three times.
Tim Maxwell, a junior at Westminster, won the pole vault competition at the BSN Sports Oberlin College Invitational held Feb. 8.
A McGuffey graduate, Maxwell cleared 14 feet on his winning vault.
In softball
Penn State freshman pitcher Bailey Parshall, a Belle Vernon graduate, make an impressive collegiate debut. Parshall appeared in her first game with the Nittany Lions in the season opener Feb. 8 against Ball State in Fort Myers, Fla. Parshall entered the game in a relief role and threw 4 1/3 shutout innings to get the win in Penn State’s 10-2 victory.
The lefty didn’t give up a hit, retiring 13 of the 14 batters she faced. She struck out eight.
For the season, Parshall has a 2-4 record in seven outings (four starts) and has struck out 39 batters in 29 2/3 innings. She has issued only seven walks.
Parshall is one of two local players on the Nittany Lions’ roster. Delaney Elling is a junior first baseman who has played in eight of nine games (four starts) for the Nittany Lions, who have a 3-6 record.
Lexi Wagner of Venetia has started all nine games as a freshman for Oregon.
Wagner, the starting right fielder for the Ducks, is a Seton LaSalle graduate. She is batting .217 with a double and six RBI.
In her second collegiate game, Wagner went 2-for-3 w2ith three RBI in Oregon’s 12-5 win over Cal State-Northridge.
In basketball
Sierra Kotchman, a Washington native and Trinity graduate, scored 27 points to lead Fairmont State’s women’s team to a 71-64 win at Notre Dame (Ohio) in a Mountain East Conference game Feb. 9.
Kotchman scored 17 of her points in the second half. She went 10 of 19 from the field, including 5 of 11 from three-point range.
For the season, Kotchman is the leading scorer for the Falcons (10-14), averaging 17.4 points per game. She is shooting 37 percent from three-point range and has made 74 of 82 free throws (90.2 percent).
Bucknell’s Kaitlyn Slagus was named the Patriot League Women’s Basketball Player of the Week on Monday, the third time this season and 10th time in her career that the Belle Vernon native has received the honor.
Slagus averaged 17.5 points, 8.0 rebounds, 3.5 blocks, and 1.5 steals while leading Bucknell to wins over Lehigh and Colgate. The Bison upped their winning streak to 11 straight games while improving to 21-4 overall and 12-1 in the Patriot League.
Slagus opened the week with 17 points, eight rebounds, and three blocked shots in a 73-68 win on the road against Lehigh. She followed that with 18 points, eight rebounds and four blocked shots in a 76-58 home victory over Colgate. She was 12-of-20 from the field and 4-of-7 from three-point range over the two games.
Slagus has scored in double-digits in 11 consecutive games. She currently ranks eighth in program history with 1,387 points and fourth with 894 rebounds. She needs 11 more rebounds to break the school’s career record.
In tennis
Anna Smith of Venetia is playing at No. 1 singles for Marshall.
A Pennsylvania Cyber School graduate, Smith is a sophomore at Marshall and has a 5-4 record this season for the Thundering Herd. She defeated Penn State’s Gabby O’Gorman 2-6, 6-3, 7-5 Sunday though the Nittany Lions won the match, 5-2.
As a freshman, Smith won nine of her final 11 singles matches and tied for the team lead in singles wins (11) and doubles wins (11).