ERIE, Pa. (Feb. 26) – Freshman
Olivia Hudson (Altoona, Pa./Altoona) scored a season-high 18 points off the bench, as the Vulcans claimed a 63-47 win at Mercyhurst on Wednesday evening in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) West play.
With the victory, the California University of Pennsylvania women's basketball team improves to 20-7 this season behind a 14-7 mark in conference action. The Vulcans enter the last game of the regular season still in a tie for third place in the PSAC West standings, but have already secured a home game in the first round of the PSAC Tournament. Additionally, Cal U has posted its sixth-consecutive season with at least 20 victories. Meanwhile, the Lakers fall to 7-20 overall with a 7-14 record in league play.
Hudson led all players with 18 points after going 7-of-12 from the floor, including four-of-seven from beyond the arc. She also collected seven rebounds, one block and two steals while playing 29 minutes off the bench. Hudson has now scored in double-digits eight times this year.
Junior
Bianca Jasper (Middletown, Pa./Middletown) finished with 16 points, seven rebounds (four offensive), four assists and two steals in the victory. Senior
DJ Hahn (Warren, Pa./Warren) added 11 points off the bench, while sophomore
Shauna Harrison (Sheffield, England/Myerscough) posted eight rebounds and four assists on Wednesday.
The Vulcans scored eight of the initial 10 points of the game before the Lakers answered with an 8-2 run of their own to tie the score at 10-10 with 3:29 left in the first quarter. Cal U then held Mercyhurst scoreless for the remainder of the quarter and snapped a five-minute drought without a field goal, as it scored the final seven points to take a 17-10 lead. The Lakers trimmed the deficit to 20-16 with 8:39 left in the second quarter before Hahn scored six-straight for the Vulcans to stretch the lead to 26-18 at the 6:40-mark. Mercyhurst again worked the deficit down to four points, 28-24, before Hudson and Jasper each responded with a three-pointer to give Cal U a 34-24 lead at halftime.
Midway through the third quarter, Cal U held a 36-28 lead before rallying off 10-unanswered points in just over 90 seconds to take its largest lead of the game at 18 points, 46-28, at the 3:56-mark. The Lakers responded with a 9-2 run to close the deficit to 48-37 at the end of the quarter. The Vulcans stretched the lead to 59-43 on a three-pointer by Hudson with 5:12 left to play before the Lakers were limited to just a pair of field goals for the remainder of the game.
Cal U finished the game shooting 38.5 percent (20-of-52) from the floor after going 10-of-27 (37.0 percent) from long range. Meanwhile, Mercyhurst posted a .462 field-goal percentage (18-of-39) and went two-of-nine from beyond the arc. The Vulcans held a 28-26 rebounding advantage and scored 22 points off turnovers in the victory.
Senior Lauren Lapertosa led the team with 11 points and six rebounds. Fellow senior Amber Renz scored nine points and classmate Kori Sidwell added seven points and five rebounds in the contest.
The Vulcans close out the regular season on Saturday, Feb. 29, when they host regionally-ranked Gannon on Senior Day with tip-off set for 1 p.m.
