CALIFORNIA (Feb. 15) – The Vulcans withstood a late fourth-quarter surge on Wednesday evening to earn a 68-66 victory over Seton Hill in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) West action at the Convocation Center.
With the win, the California (PA) women's basketball team improves to 16-10 this season with a 12-8 mark in league play. The Vulcans have won six-straight home meetings against the Griffins, plus swept the regular-season series for the third-straight year. Meanwhile, Seton Hill falls to 17-12 overall behind a 10-10 record in conference action.
Senior
Rajah Fink (Dover, Pa./Dover) scored a game-high 23 points on 10-of-20 shooting while reaching the 1,000-point milestone in her career. She entered the season with 615 career points in three years at IUP before leading the Vulcans with a career-high 14.9 points per game this season behind five 20-point games. Fink also collected six rebounds (four offensive), one block and three steals while playing 38 minutes on Wednesday.
Sophomore
Allycia Harris (Wilkes-Barre, Pa./Elmer L. Meyers) and senior
Ciaira Loyd (Scranton, Pa./Scranton) both registered double-doubles in the home victory. Harris finished with 11 points and 10 rebounds (four offensive) despite battling foul trouble, while Loyd tallied 13 points and 12 assists. Junior
Halle Herrington (Philipsburg, Pa./Philipsburg-Osceola) posted 11 points, three rebounds and one steal against the Griffins.
Cal held its largest lead of the game at the 3:44-mark of the third quarter following a layup by Loyd, 49-37. Seton Hill closed the quarter with six-straight points to cut the deficit to 49-43. The Vulcans countered with a 6-1 run to take a 55-44 lead with 8:33 left to play before the Griffins followed with nine-consecutive points to work the deficit to 55-53 at the 7:13-mark. The teams traded points over the next two-plus minutes before Seton Hill claimed a 66-63 lead with 2:35 remaining. Cal then tied the score at 66-66 on a three-pointer by Herrington at the 1:36-mark and made a pair of free-throws in the final minute of play. The Griffins trailed 68-66 with 17 seconds left before a game-tying jumper missed just before time expired.
The Griffins held an early 7-4 lead before the Vulcans scored six of eight points to take a 10-9 lead on layup by Harris with 2:58 left in the first quarter. Seton Hill held a 13-10 lead at the end of the quarter after Cal made just 4-of-17 from the floor in the first quarter. Midway through the second quarter, the Griffins made a pair of three-pointers over nearly three minutes to take a 28-24 lead. Cal then mounted a 13-2 run over the remainder of the quarter to take a 37-30 lead at the break following a three-pointer by Loyd from just across halfcourt.
Cal made over a blistering 75 percent in the second quarter before finishing the game with a .446 field-goal percentage (25-of-56). The Vulcans also converted 14-of-18 (77.8 percent) from the free-throw line. Meanwhile, the Griffins shot at a 42.9 clip (24-of-56) from the floor after going 6-of-20 (30.0 percent) from beyond the arc. Cal held a 32-31 rebounding advantage, plus also scored 18 points off turnovers.
Seton Hill junior Sakeria Haralson scored a season-high 19 points on 9-of-12 shooting and added five rebounds, two assists and two blocks. Graduate student Alie Seto posted 14 points, three rebounds and three assists, while senior Courtney Tomas finished with a game-high 11 rebounds.
The Vulcans are idle this weekend before returning to action on Wednesday, Feb. 22, when they travel to face Pitt-Johnstown in divisional play at 5:30 p.m.
