CALIFORNIA (Feb. 8) – The Vulcans nearly erased a 17-point deficit on Wednesday evening before suffering a 76-65 loss against No. 20 Gannon at the Convocation Center in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) West action.
With the loss, the California (PA) women's basketball team falls to 15-9 this season with an 11-8 mark in league play. The Vulcans have now lost three-straight home games in the series against the Lady Knights. Meanwhile, Gannon extends its winning streak to five games and improves to 23-3 overall behind a 15-3 record in conference action.
Senior
Rajah Fink (Dover, Pa./Dover) scored a team-high 18 points on 7-of-15 shooting and added six rebounds, three assists and one block. She continues to lead the PSAC this season with 10.3 rebounds per game and remains just one of two players in the league to average a double-double.
Classmate
Ciaira Loyd (Scanton, Pa./Scranton) tallied 16 points and seven assists while playing all 40 minutes and junior
Halle Herrington (Philipsburg, Pa./Philipsburg-Osceola) posted 12 points and three steals on Wednesday. Sophomore
Allycia Harris (Wilkes-Barre, Pa./Elmer L. Meyers) led the team with 10 rebounds (six offensive), plus collected nine points, two blocks and two steals.
Gannon scored 12-straight points midway through the first quarter to take a 14-3 lead at the 3:45-mark. The Vulcans cut the deficit to 16-7 at the end of the quarter while shooting just 3-of-17 from the floor. Harris made a jumper with 8:11 left before halftime to trim the deficit to 20-14 before the Lady Knights mounted a 15-4 run to take a 17-point lead, 38-15, with 2:48 remaining in the second quarter. Cal scored five points in the final two minutes before trailing by a 39-25 margin at the break.
The teams traded points through the opening portion of the third quarter before the Lady Knights stretched the lead to 50-34 on a three-pointer at the 4:23-mark. Cal then closed the quarter on a 15-3 run behind seven points by Fink to trim the deficit to 53-49. Loyd converted a traditional three-point play in the opening minute of the fourth quarter to make it a 53-52 contest with 9:37 remaining. The Lady Knights responded with seven-consecutive points to take a 60-52 lead at the 7:05-mark of the fourth quarter before Fink started a 9-2 rally with a three-pointer, as Cal again cut the deficit to one point at 62-61 with 4:17 left play. Later, Gannon scored eight-straight points over two minutes to stretch the lead to 70-61 before a layup by Herrington with 1:39 remaining. The Lady Knights eventually sealed the victory with six free-throws over the final 30 seconds.
Cal shot over 50 percent in both the third and fourth quarters to finish the game with a .419 field-goal percentage (26-of-62). Meanwhile, Gannon made 49.0 percent (25-of-51) from the floor and converted 19-of-23 attempts (82.6 percent) from the free-throw line. The Lady Knights registered a 35-27 rebounding advantage and scored 29 points off turnovers.
Gannon seniors Emma Wright and Samantha Pirosko combined for 55 points in the victory. Wright led all players with 28 points (18 second half) on 9-of-15 shooting, including four-of-seven from long range, while Pirosko added 27 points (21 first half) after making 11-of-14 from the floor and finished with 10 rebounds. No other player for the Lady Knight totaled more than five points.
The Vulcans return to action on Saturday, Feb. 11, when they travel to face Mercyhurst in Erie, Pennsylvania, at 5:30 p.m.
