CALIFORNIA (Jan. 28) – The Vulcans moved into a four-way tie for second place in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) West standings on Saturday afternoon following a 67-58 win over Pitt-Johnstown at the Convocation Center in divisional action.
With the victory, the Vulcans improve to 13-7 this season with a 9-5 mark in league play. The win also marked the 250th career victory for head coach
Jess Strom, as she is one of nine women's basketball coaches all-time (four active) in PSAC history to reach the milestone. Meanwhile, the Mountain Cats drop to 12-8 overall and also sit second in the PSAC West standings with a 9-5 mark.
Junior
Halle Herrington (Philipsburg, Pa./Philpsburg-Osceola) led the team in scoring for the third-straight game, finishing with 18 points behind 10-of-12 from the free-throw line. She is averaging 19.3 points over the last four games while shooting a combined 18-for-35 (51.4 percent) from beyond the arc during that span. Herrington played all 40 minutes on Saturday after entering play as the national leader in minutes played per game.
Sophomore
Allycia Harris (Wilkes-Barre, Pa./Elmer L. Meyers) scored 15 points on 7-of-14 shooting and tallied nine rebounds (three rebounds) and two blocks. Junior
Jordan Smith (Manassas, Va./Colgan) finished with six points, nine rebounds, one block and two steals while playing all 40 minutes, while senior
Rajah Fink (Dover, Pa./Dover) posted 12 points and six rebounds (four offensive) despite battling foul trouble. Fellow senior
Ciaira Loyd (Scranton, Pa./Scranton) registered 12 points, three rebounds and nine assists in the victory.
Cal held UPJ without a field goal for almost four minutes to start the game and then scored six-straight points to take an 11-4 lead on a layup by Fink at the 4:29-mark. The Vulcans again tallied six-consecutive points and held a 21-12 lead at the end of the first quarter. The Mountain Cats mounted a 13-5 run in the second quarter to cut the deficit to 28-25 with 4:50 left before the break. Herrington later made a three-pointer at the 1:59-mark before Loyd scored on a layup near the end of the quarter, as Cal took a 37-32 lead into halftime.
The Mountain Cats started the third quarter on a 10-2 rally to take a 42-39 lead at the 6:21-mark. Cal then tied the score on a three-pointer by Herrington and Harris later made back-to-back layups to give the Vulcans a 48-47 lead with 2:16 left in the quarter. UPJ took its final lead of the game at the 1:09-mark before Cal scored six-straight points to take a 54-49 lead early in the fourth quarter. Following a basket by the Mountain Cats with 9:21 remaining, the Vulcans rallied off seven-consecutive points to take a 61-51 lead on a pair of free-throws by Herrington at the 3:20-mark. Cal stretched its lead to as many as 11 points, 64-53, with 1:58 left to play before UPJ worked the deficit to 64-58 at the 1:08-mark. The Vulcans then sealed the victory with a trio of free-throws in the final minute-plus of the game.
Cal shot over 50 percent in the first quarter before finishing the game with a .414 field-goal percentage (24-of-58). The Vulcans also converted 16-of-21 attempts (76.2 percent) from the free-throw line. Meanwhile, UPJ made 37.3 percent (22-of-59) from the floor after going just 1-of-18 (5.6 percent) from long range. The Vulcans finished with a 39-37 rebounding advantage, while the Mountain Cats scored 34 points in the paint.
UPJ senior Ashley Norling recorded a double-double with team highs of 18 points and 10 rebounds (five offensive) in just 27 minutes. Junior Hayden Taylor scored 11 points on five-of-nine shooting, while junior Peyton Alazaus collected eight points, seven rebounds and two assists.
The Vulcans open the second round of PSAC West play on Wednesday, Feb. 1, when they travel to face Clarion at 5:30 p.m.
