Box Score (New/Sortable Format) ERIE, Pa. (March 25, 2014) – The Edinboro women's basketball team saw its season come to an end on Tuesday night in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Division II Elite Eight as the Fighting Scots suffered an 81-61 loss to Cal Poly Pomona. Edinboro saw its 11-game winning streak come to an end as the Fighting Scots finished the year at 27-6. Cal Poly Pomona moves on to the semifinals with a 26-6 record and will face Bentley at Erie Insurance Area on Wednesday.
Edinboro was making its second appearance in the Elite Eight after previously qualifying in 1996-97. The night got off to a great start, as the Scots made four shots in a row after an initial miss to take an 11-2 lead.
Valerie Majewski 's rebound basket got it started, followed by 3-pointers by
Laurel Lindsay and
Lauren Hippo and then another trifecta by Lindsay. The quick getaway thrilled the crowd of 2,149 fans in attendance.
The Broncos continued to cut into the lead and took their first lead of the night at 16-15 with 10:54 left in the first half thanks to a 12-2 run. Jada Blackwell, one of three finalists for the WBCA Division II Player of the Year, keyed the run with eight points.
Blackwell would be a thorn in the side of the Fighting Scots all night. The 6'1" junior, a transfer from Arizona State, would end the night with 35 points and fell one rebounds shy of a double-double with nine rebounds. She made 12 of 23 field goals and was 10 of 13 at the line, adding three steals and two blocked shots.
Edinboro would retake the lead on the third 3-pointer of the half by Lindsay, but when J.J. Judge drained a three for the Broncos it would erase the final lead Edinboro would have. Judge would go on to hit another three and score on a layup for eight straight points and a 24-18 lead.
Edinboro twice cut the margin to three points in the half and pulled to within five points at 33-28 at the half. However, the stats told a problem that would plague Edinboro all night. After opening the game making seven of their first 13 shots, the Fighting Scots would go just 4-for-18 the rest of the way to finish at 11-for-31 (35.5 pct.) at the half. They even struggled from the free throw line, making just 2 of 8.
While Edinboro made just one of its first eight shots to start the second half Cal Poly Pomona built
its lead to 42-30 with 16:09 left. A
Valerie Majewski layup and a pair of
Aignee' Freeland free throws cut the gap to 42-34, but the Broncos went on a 7-0 run, all courtesy of Blackwell, to build the margin to 49-34 at the 12:58 mark.
Cal Poly Pomona would lead by 60-47 with just under nine minutes to play when the Fighting Scots made one last run. A pair of layups by Freeland cut the deficit to single digits at 60-51, and the Scots forced a missed shot, but Blackwell blocked Majewski's drive and the Broncos went down to run off the next nine points. Once again Blackwell did the majority of the damage, as the powerful post player scored five points and Judge capped the run with another three. That left the Fighting Scots trailing 69-51 with 5:31 to play.
"I'm disappointed to end the season on a loss," remarked head coach
Stan Swank. "Of course everyone here but the national champion does. I'm just so thrilled and proud of this group of young ladies. They accomplished so many things. This is probably the most fun group of kids I've coached. It's unfortunate they had to lose."
Edinboro never did regain its shooting touch in the second half as the Fighting Scots shot just 36.4 percent for the game (24 of 66). They were just 4 of 18 on 3-pointers, missing their final 11 from beyond the arc, and were 9 of 15 from the line.
Cal Poly Pomona, meanwhile, shot 53.8 percent from the floor (28 of 52), with five 3-pointers made in 10 attempts, and were 20 of 25 at the line. The two teams finished with 37 rebounds apiece and both teams committed 12 turnovers.
Freeland led three Scots in double figures as the 6'3" sophomore recorded her 16th double-double with 18 points and 13 rebounds while battling foul trouble. She made 8 of 14 field goals and was 2 of 3 at the line. She ended the year with 297 rebounds, tied for the tenth-highest season total.
Darche' Jackson finished off a brilliant career with 11 points, five rebounds, four assists and four steals. She concludes her career ranked 22nd in career scoring (1,167 points), tied for seventh in career assists (419), and tied for sixth in career steals (265).
Lindsay ended the night with 11 points while playing only 24 minutes. The redshirt junior, who was named an honorable mention All-American the night before, was severely weakened by the flu.
Valerie Majewski, who joined Cal Poly Pomona's Blackwell as a WBCA All-American on Tuesday night, made just 4 of 15 shots, missing all five of her 3-point attempts, to end the night with eight points.
Blackwell was joined in double figures by Ashley Lovett, who finished with 14 points and nine rebounds, and Judge, who totaled 13 points.
