Sam Pirosko looks to drive against Pitt-Johnston in the PSAC quarterfinals.
Moses Juah
67
Pitt.-Johnstown Pitt-J 17-13,13-9 PSAC
71
Winner Gannon Gannon 28-3,19-3 PSAC
Pitt.-Johnstown Pitt-J
17-13,13-9 PSAC
67
Final
71
Gannon Gannon
28-3,19-3 PSAC
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 F
Pitt.-Johnstown Pitt-J 4 20 30 13 67
Gannon Gannon 22 13 15 21 71

Game Recap: Women's Basketball | | Bob Shreve, Assistant Director of Athletics Media Relations

Pirosko Leads Comeback as No. 14/10 Golden Knights Defeat Pitt-Johnstown 71-67 in PSAC Quarterfinals

ERIE, Pa. – The path to the PSAC Women's Basketball championship will go through Gannon. That was determined on Wednesday night as the Golden Knights, the top seed out of the Western Division, rallied late for a 71-67 quarterfinal win over fifth-seed Pitt-Johnstown at the Highmark Events Center. They improved to 28-3 and came into the game ranked 10th in the D2SIDA Division II Top 25 and 14th in the WBCA poll. UPJ saw its season end at 17-13.

While winning for the tenth straight time Gannon earned the right to host the PSAC Final Four as the highest seed in the division. The semifinals are set for Saturday, March 4 with games at 1:00 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. The finals are at 3 p.m. on Sunday, March 5 with the winner receiving the PSAC's automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament.

The Golden Knights will face PSAC East second-seed Shippensburg (24-5) in the latter game while the first semifinal is 1E West Chester (22-7) vs. 2W California (Pa.) (19-10). Shippensburg defeated Kutztown on Wednesday night and West Chester won over Millersville in the Eastern Division quarterfinals, while Cal held off Edinboro in the other Western Division quarterfinal.  

Gannon came out on fire while beginning its quest for a third straight PSAC title and a third win over Pitt-Johnstown. The Golden Knights led 22-4 after one quarter, scoring 15 points in a row at one point while holding UPJ without a point for the final six minutes. The bench accounted for 15 points as Ali Benim (Erie, Pa./Harbor Creek) and Bri Claxon (South Webster, Ohio/South Webster) scored six points apiece.   

The Mountain Cats clawed back over the next two quarters as they were near-perfect from the floor after going 2-for-12 in the opening ten minutes. They made 7-of-9 shots in the second quarter, outscoring Gannon 20-13 in the period, to pull to within 35-24 at the half. Not only did UPJ make 8-of-10 shots in the third period but they went to the free throw line 16 times, making 11.

The end result was a 30-point quarter for the Mountain Cats as they outscored Gannon 30-15 to pull ahead 54-50 after three quarters. It was just the fifth time Gannon had trailed after three quarters all year.

Enter Sam Pirosko. The redshirt senior was not about to let Gannon's run for a third straight PSAC championship end in the quarterfinals. She would finish with 15 of Gannon's 21 points in the period as the Golden Knights stepped up the defense to win the final stanza 21-13.




UPJ still led 65-61 with under three minutes to play when Gannon mounted its final charge. Boston McKinney's (Bolivar, Ohio/Tuscarawas Valley) steal and layup pulled the Golden Knights to within 65-63 with 2:17 left. After a UPJ miss Pirosko was fouled and made both free throws to tie the game at 65-65 with 1:40 left. The Mountain Cats misfired once again on their next possession and Madison Demski (Erie, Pa./Villa Maria) gave Gannon the lead for good at 67-65 with two more free throws and just 56 seconds remaining.

Gannon's lead grew to four points when Pirosko grabbed the defensive rebound on a UPJ miss, then scored with 13 seconds left for a 69-65 advantage. Cassidy Crawford's short jumper in the paint four seconds later pulled UPJ to within 69-67. Following a timeout, Pirosko was fouled on a drive and calmly sank both from the charity stripe to finally give the Golden Knights breathing room at 71-67 with just nine seconds to play. UPJ missed on two 3-pointers as the buzzer sounded.

Over the final ten minutes Pirosko made 5-of-7 field goals, including a 3-pointer, and went 4-of-6 from the line to outscore UPJ by herself in the period with 15 points.

Pirosko entered as the second-leading scorer in the PSAC and ended the night with 27 points, her 17th  game of 20-or-more points this season. She made 9-of-17 field goals, matching her career high with three 3-pointers in five attempts, and went 6-of-8 at the line. Pirosko has now scored in double figures in the last 30 games and has scored 20-or-more points in eight of the lats nine games. She boosted her career total to 1,470 points, good for ninth all-time.

Claxon was also in double figures for Gannon nine different players scored. The freshman guard totaled 10 points off the bench, making 5-of-7 field goals. Delaney Dogan (West Middlesex, Pa./West Middlesex) had eight points and a game-high eight rebounds, with McKinney, Benim and Demski all scoring six points.

A balanced UPJ team had four players in double figures, led by Ashley Norling and Hayden Taylor with 15 points apiece. Olivia Fasick had 13 points and seven rebounds while Peyton Alazaus finished with 12 points.

Gannon, the PSAC leader in field goal percentage, shot 47.3 percent (26-of-55) from the floor, including 5-of-15 on 3-pointers. UPJ shot 48.9 percent (22-of-45) from the floor, the first team to outshoot Gannon from the field in the last ten games. They were good on 7-of-22 shots from beyond the arc. Gannon ended the night 14-of-17 from the line while UPJ finished at 16-of-21.

The Golden Knights held a narrow 28-26 advantage on the glass and forced 18 turnovers while committing 12. Those turnovers led to Gannon holding a 25-8 advantage in points off turnovers.
 
 
 
 
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