ERIE, Pa.-Playing in its first PSAC Tournament Semifinal since the 2017-18 season, the West Chester women's basketball team (22-8) squared off against Cal (20-10) in the semifinals on Saturday afternoon inside the Highmark Events Center on the campus of Gannon University.The game was close throughout, featuring 11 lead changes and four ties, but the second-seeded Vulcans used a late-game comeback to earn a 62-59 victory over the top-seeded Golden Rams.
First Team All-Conference honoree
Emily McAteer (Thornton, Pa./Garnet Valley) led all scorers with a career-high 28 points on 11-of-16 shooting while also coming away with six rebounds. Fellow First-Team selection
Leah Johnson (Columbus, N.J./Notre Dame) was the other Golden Ram in double figures, finishing with 12 points in the loss.
West Chester found itself locked in a tight battle throughout the afternoon against Cal as both the Golden Rams and Vulcans traded stops throughout the contest. Still, it was an 18-4 run, which spanned the late stages of the third until the midway point of the fourth, that was the difference maker for the Vulcans on Saturday afternoon. West Chester led by as many as eight in the third and never trailed by more than five until midway through the fourth, but this run erased the Golden Rams second-half lead and gave the Vulcans a lead they would never relinquish. Still, the Golden Rams had a chance to come all the way back late in the fourth and earn a late victory or force overtime, but Cal's defense stiffened at exactly the right time, holding off the late charge to the 62-59 victory, while also returning the Vulcans to the PSAC Championship game for the fifth time since 2015, while also snapping the Golden Rams impressive 15-game winning streak.
Leading by just one at the half, West Chester opened the third on a 15-8 run over the first five minutes of the frame, stretching the lead to eight points (42-34), which would be the largest lead for the team on the afternoon before the Vulcans began their comeback. Cal closed the third on an 11-4 run, taking advantage of a late West Chester turnover and a quick three by Herrington for one of her game-leading three made three-pointers on the afternoon, which cut the lead to 46-45 heading into the fourth.
In the fourth, West Chester led only briefly, holding the lead for just 20 seconds before Cal answered back quickly, using a 7-0 run to fully erase the deficit, which the Vulcans had found themselves dealing with for much of the afternoon and take a 57-50 lead over West Chester with 6:28 to play.
Michelle Kozicki (Wilmington, Del./Padua), who led all scorers with six points in the fourth, countered quickly with a layup to cut the deficit to five before Cal stretched it back to seven moments later with a make of its own. West Chester went on a 5-0 run over the next 1:11 of the fourth, pulling back within two after a successful three-point play by McAteer.
Trailing 59-57 with 3:49 to play, West Chester and Cal combined for just five points over the final minutes of play, with Loyd hitting a big three for the Vulcans before Kozicki countered again with a driving layup to pull West Chester to within three in the waning moments. After a miss by Cal with under 30 seconds to play, which would have put the game away, West Chester called timeout to draw up a final play. The Golden Rams had the option of a last shot and got a good look, but Cal's defensive effort was enough to force the miss, and Allycia Harris grabbed the biggest of her seven rebounds on the day as Cal earned a narrow 62-59 victory over the Golden Rams.
Ciaira Loyd led five Vulcans in double figures with 14 points on 6-of-18 shooting, while Halle Herrington finished with 13 in the victory over the Golden Rams.
West Chester shot 45.1 % (23-of-51) from the field on the day, including a solid 54.5 % (6-of-11) from the floor during the fourth quarter comeback attempt, while also shooting 30.0 % (3-of-10) from deep and 76.9 % (10-of-13) from the line. For its part, Cal shot 43.9 % (25-of-57) and 6-of-14 (42.9 %) from three, led by a 3-for-6 effort by Herrington, who led Cal in made threes for the second game in a row in the Tournament. Cal also went 6-for-7 (85.7 %) from the line in the victory, including 5-for-6 in the second half of action to erase the early deficit and hold on for a victory over the streaking Golden Rams.
West Chester got an early lead in the first quarter before Cal answered back, which allowed the second-seeded Vulcans to take a 16-14 lead into the second.
In the second period of play, West Chester and Cal traded makes, but West Chester held a four-point lead late in the half and carried a 27-26 lead into the halftime break.
McAteer had a tremendous first half, scoring 16 in the first 20 minutes of basketball on an impressive 7-of-8 shooting effort to help West Chester hold a halftime lead.
West Chester ended the game with a 33-29 lead in rebounding, led by seven rebounds by
Anna McTamney (Plymouth Meeting, Pa./Plymouth Whitemarsh). Despite this lead in rebounding, West Chester collected just eight offensive rebounds and mustered just two second-chance points; however, West Chester did end the game with a 36-26 lead in points in the paint.
Up Next:
West Chester will now await the decision of the Division II Women's Basketball Selection Committee to learn its NCAA Tournament fate, with the show set to air on NCAA.com tomorrow night at 10:30 p.m. West Chester, who was ranked third in the final Atlantic Regional rankings, is seeking its first Tournament appearance since the 2017-18 season, and its fourth since the 2015 season, when PSAC East Coach of the Year,
Kiera Wooden assumed control of the Golden Rams.
