INDIANA, Pa. - The Edinboro women's basketball team captured its fifth PSAC Championship title on Sunday, defeating Millersville, 77-66 at the Kovalchick Complex. With the win, the Fighting Scots receive an automatic bid to the NCAA Division II Women's Basketball Tournament. They will find out their opponent on the NCAA selection show tonight at 10 p.m. Click here to watch the selection show.
The Fighting Scots, who entered the PSAC Tournament as the No.2 seed in the Western Division, improved to 26-3 overall, while the Marauders, who were the third seed in the Eastern Division, fell to 18-12. Edinboro is ranked WBCA Division II Top 25, 23rd in the D2SIDA Top 25 poll and are fourth in the NCAA Atlantic Region poll. They are eighth in the latest WBCA Division II Top 25 Poll released on Sunday night. Edinboro
Michaela Barnes was named PSAC Tournament MVP. She scored 18 points against Millersville on 6-of-14 shooting. In Edinboro's PSAC Semifinal contest against West Chester, she posted a career-high 29 points and went a perfect 15-for-15 on her free throws.
After outscoring Millersville 20-14 in the first quarter, the Fighting Scots trailed 36-33 at the half. Edinboro would also be held scoreless for nearly the first three minutes of the second half. However, once Jontay Walton scored on a layup for the Scots first points in the second half, she found her rhythm for the rest of the contest. She drilled back-to-back 3-pointers, as part of an 8-2 Walton run over 27 seconds. Later in the quarter, she added five more points off a layup and her third 3-pointer. Overall, she accounted for 13 of the Fighting Scots first 15 points in the stanza.
The 5'5" guard limited to just 14 minutes in the first half. She picked up a personal and technical foul at the 6:02 mark.
The Fighting Scots went up for good when Walton drilled her third 3-pointer of the period for a 48-42 advantage. Barnes followed a 3-pointer of her own on Edinboro's next possession.The Fighting Scots outscored the Marauders 11-3 over the last three minutes of the stanza.
Entering the final quarter up 55-49, Millersville's Savanna Krusinsky started the period off by splitting a pair of free throws. That cut Edinboro's lead to five points. Allison Thompson answered with a jumper on the other end. Thompson's basket was the start of an 11-2 run over the next four minutes.
Both teams combined for four ties and four lead changes. The Fighting Scots led by as much as 14 points at 68-54 in the fourth quarter.
Edinboro ended the contest shooting 41.7 percent (25-of-60) from the floor, including 7-of 20 3-pointers and 20-of-24 free throws. The Fighting Scots went 20-for-23 at the line in the second half alone. Millersville made one less basket then Edinboro, with a 40.0 percent (24-of-60) clip, converted 5-of-13 shots from behind the arc and made 13-of-20 free throws.
Edinboro had a 42-31 advantage on the glass and led 12-7 in points off the bench. Both teams scored 13 points off turnovers. Millersville committed one more turnover than Edinboro with 17.
Edinboro head coach Stan Swank accounted the Fighting Scots strong second half performance to Walton's response in the third quarter. "We hit a point in the third quarter where Jontay sparked, everybody sparked," Swank said. "She hit those couple three's there and it got us going."
Walton led all players with 22 points, including 20 points coming in the second half. The redshirt junior guard also made 7-of-10 free throws in the game, and was 7-for-9 at the line over the final 20 minutes. Two other Fighting Scots joined Barnes and Walton in double figures. Ciara Rosten recorded her 19th double-double of the year with 10 points and 14 rebounds. She also had a game-high five assists, before fouling out. Michelle Jahn scored 13 points and went 6-for-6 at the line.
Three Marauders scored double digits. Alayah Hall scored 16 points, shooting 7-of-13 from the field and made 2-of-5 free throws, before fouling out. Courtney Dimoff also contributed 16 points, making 5-of-10 field goals, with four baskets coming from behind the arc. Lauren Lister added 15 points. Kendra Bamberger came off the bench to grab a team-high seven rebounds.
