Small college basketball roundup: W&J women move into tie for PAC lead
Danielle Parker scored 21 points, Alie Seto made a tiebreaking free throw with 55 seconds left and Washington & Jefferson withstood two free throws and two shots in the final 12 seconds by Saint Vincent to knock off the Bearcats 59-58 Monday night and move into a tie for first place in the Presidents’ Athletic Conference.
W&J’s victory, its 10th in a row, deadlocks the Presidents (12-5 overall) with Saint Vincent atop the conference standings at 8-1. The teams split the season series with each team winning on the other’s home court. Saint Vincent (14-3) had its 12-game winning streak end.
The Bearcats, however, had plenty of chances to win. Seto made the second of two free throws to give W&J a 59-58 lead. Saint Vincent committed a turnover on the ensuing possession, but after a missed shot by W&J the Bearcats had several chances to tie or take the lead in the closing seconds.
Saint Vincent’s Stephanie Vaughn missed two free throws with 12 seconds left. The Bearcats’ Carlee Kilgus grabbed the rebound on the second miss but her shot was blocked by Parker. Saint Vincent had one final chance but Jenna Lafko missed a three-pointer at the buzzer.
Parker had another big game for W&J. The Canon-McMillan graduate led all scorers and made four of seven three-point shots. She also had a team-high 10 rebounds.
Seto finished with 14 points. She and Parker helped W&J battle back from a 12-point deficit in the second quarter and tie the score, 28-28, at halftime. The Presidents led 45-41 after three quarters.
W&J won the game at the free-throw line, where they were 14 of 22 compared to Saint Vincent’s eight of 14.
Lafko led Saint Vincent with 12 points and Paige Montrose had 11.
Men’s result
Saint Vincent 78, Wash & Jeff 70: Tom Kromka scored 23 points, Shemar Bennett had 21 and Saint Vincent used a big spurt in the middle of the second half to pull away for a 78-70 victory over visiting Washington & Jefferson and move closer to the PAC’s regular-season title.
Saint Vincent (9-0, 16-2) won its eighth in a row and extended its lead in the PAC standings to three games over second-place W&J (6-3, 8-10).
The Bearcats seemed to be in control at halftime, leading 33-20, as W&J shot only 26 percent. The Presidents, however, came out hot in the second half, especially from three-point range, scoring the first nine points of the half and eventually taking a 42-38 lead with under 14 minutes left. Saint Vincent then went on a pivotal 18-3 run that netted a 56-45 advantage. The Presidents could get no closer than six points the rest of the way.
Much of W&J’s scoring was done by Zach Queen and Cameron Seeman, who combined for 49 points and 11 three-point field goals. Queen led with 26 points and was 8-for-12 from three-point range. Seeman scored 23 points and had six rebounds.
Saint Vincent, which won in overtime at W&J early in the season, had a big edge at the free-throw line, where the Bearcats made 14 of 20 attempts compared to W&J’s 4-for-6.