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EDINBORO, Pa. - The No. 3 Gannon women's basketball team has clinched a spot in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Championship following a 57-51 win over No. 14 Bloomsburg in the semifinals on Saturday afternoon at the McComb Fieldhouse on the campus of Edinboro University. In a rematch of last season's conference title game, the Lady Knights snapped the Huskies' 17-game win streak. The Western Division second-seed Lady Knights improved to 27-2 overall, while the Eastern Division top-seed Huskies fell to 24-4.
The Lady Knights will square off against the Western Division top-seed and host Fighting Scots on Sunday, March 9. The No. 25 Fighting Scots defeated West Chester on Saturday in a high-scoring affair, 104-82. The Lady Knights and Fighting Scots will face off for the second time in PSAC Tournament history. En route to their 2010 conference title, the Lady Knights defeated the Fighting Scots in the quarterfinals of the tournament. The Fighting Scots are making their ninth appearance in the PSAC title game, while the Lady Knights are appearing for the third time in program history.
Junior Brittany Batts (Leesburg, Va./Loudoun County) led the Lady Knights with 18 points off five three-pointers. Senior Jen Papich (Pittsburgh, Pa./Fox Chapel) tallied 14 points, sharing a team-high six rebounds with junior Nettie Blake (Jersey City, N.J./Marist). Blake added nine points. Senior Kelley Sundberg (Mansfield, Conn./E.O. Smith) directed the Lady Knights' offense with eight assists in 40 minutes of action, tying a career game-high.
The Lady Knights shot 40 percent (18-45) from the field. The Lady Knights were hot from the free-throw line to open the game, making 88.9 percent (8-9). The Lady Knights finished the day at the foul line, hitting 75 percent (15-20).
The Huskies were led by the reigning PSAC Eastern Division Athlete of the Year Catherine Noack with 13 points. Noack was the only player to reach double digits for the Huskies. Among the Huskies' leading scorers, Jocelyn Ford was held to three points in 37 minutes followed by Adreana Sadowski with eight points. Sadowski, the Huskies' leading rebounder, did not pull down one board.
Entering the contest as the conference's best-shooting squad, Bloomsburg hit only 21.9 percent (7-32) from the field in the opening half. Behind the arc, the Huskies hit only 27. 3 percent (3-11) of their attempts and did not have on stop at the foul line at the break.
In the second half, the Huskies took only three long-range attempts to strike 50 percent (9-18) of their shots from the field. The Huskies made 22 visits to the charity strip in the second half, hitting 68.2 percent of their total attempts.
The Lady Knights stormed out to an 8-0 lead in the opening 4:30 capped by a three by Batts to force a Huskies' timeout. The Huskies answered back with a 15-3 run to capture their first lead of the game, as Noack buried back-to-back threes.
In the remaining 11:54, the Lady Knights held the Huskies to just two points to close the first half. Blake tied the game at 15 off an inside pass by Papich with 7:44 left. Despite the Huskies taking a 17-15 edge with 5:26 on the clock, a visit to the foul line by the Lady Knights swung the lead their way. Freshman Brianna Brennan (Woodhaven, Mich./Woodhaven) hit a long-range three at the top of arc with 14 seconds remaining to take a 24-17 lead into the break.
Batts opened the second half with consecutive threes to secure the Lady Knights' first double-digit lead of the contest, 30-19, with 16:37 remaining. The Lady Knights held the Huskies scoreless in the opening 5:35. From there, the game became a back-and-forth affair.
The Huskies pulled within four of the Lady Knights, 39-35, with just over 10 minutes remaining in the game off a jumper by Noack. Batts struck again with her fifth long-range trey to take a 44-36 advantage with 9:12 left.
With 4:59 remaining, the game became tied at 46-46, as the Huskies' Marla Simmons hit a three to erase the Lady Knights' lead. The Huskies managed to wrestle the lead away from the Lady Knights for only 18 seconds until Papich gave the Lady Knights a 50-49 lead on her second free-throw attempt.
For the second straight game, the Lady Knights relied on solid free-throw shooting to help seal the 57-51 victory over the Huskies. Seven of the Lady Knights' final eight points came at the foul line, including four by Papich.
The Lady Knights held a 36-29 advantage on the glass, as Papich and Blake shared a game-high along with the Huskies' Simmons. The Huskies converted the Lady Knights' 21 turnovers into 14 points.
Gannon will face Western Division top-seed and tournament host Edinboro on Sunday, March 9, at the McComb Fieldhouse at 1 p.m. The championship game will be televised on the Pennsylvania Cable Network (PCN). PCN is available through Time Warner Cable on Channel 22 in the City of Erie and Erie County. Sunday's coverage can also be viewed online and on-the-go by subscribing to PCN Select at PCNTV.com.
GAME NOTES: For the first time since Jan. 11, Blake was held to single digits… The Lady Knights improved to 7-3 overall in the PSAC Tournament, holding a 3-0 record in the semifinal round… In the all-time series, the Lady Knights hold a 6-1 record against the Huskies… Batts has led the team's scoring in seven games this season.
