Gannon seniors accept the second-place trophy at the PSAC championship game at the Highmark Events Center.
Joe Mattis
75
Winner Cal U (PA) CUP 21-10,14-8 PSAC
63
Gannon Gannon 29-4,19-3 PSAC
Winner
Cal U (PA) CUP
21-10,14-8 PSAC
75
Final
63
Gannon Gannon
29-4,19-3 PSAC
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 F
Cal U (PA) CUP 18 20 15 22 75
Gannon Gannon 9 14 17 23 63

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

Golden Knights' Late Rally Comes Up Short vs. California (Pa.) in PSAC Championship Game

ERIE, Pa. – Gannon's two-year reign as PSAC champion came to an end on Sunday afternoon as California (Pa.) jumped out to an early lead and withstood a furious late Gannon rally for a 75-63 win at the Highmark Events Center. The loss snapped a ten-game winning streak for the Golden Knights who are now 29-4, while Cal improved to 21-10. Gannon came into the game ranked 10th in the D2SIDA Division II Top 25 and 14th in the NWCA poll.

The Golden Knights were attempting to become the first PSAC team with three consecutive conference championships since Indiana (Pa.) since 2007-09. In addition to denying Gannon its third PSAC crown Cal earned the PSAC's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Gannon came in ranked second in the Atlantic Region in the most recent poll and will no doubt make its 14th appearance in the NCAA Tournament and eighth under head coach Cleve Wright when the field is announced on Sunday night. Cal on the other hand, came into the PSAC Tournament ranked tenth in the region and possibly needed to win to get in.

The Vulcans came out like a team in need of the win, jumping out to a 12-2 lead just over seven minutes into the game and holding an 18-9 advantage after one quarter. Gannon came in as the PSAC's leader in field goal percentage but struggled from the floor in the first ten minutes, going 3-for-14. Cal double-teamed Sam Pirosko every time Gannon's leading scorer touched the ball and she did not even have a shot attempt in the first quarter.

Gannon cut the deficit to eight points at 25-17 on Emma Wright's (Fairview, Pa./Talawanda) layup with 6:03 remaining in the half. The bucket put the graduate student over 1,000 points for her career including time at Grand Valley State.

Emma Wright scored her 1,000th career point.Cal answered with a 13-2 run, including ten straight points, to take its biggest lead of the game at 38-19. A pair of Wright free throws and an Emily Poling (Defiance, Ohio/Defiance) jumper in the paint closed the gap to 38-23 at the half.

Gannon pulled as close as 12 points at 48-36 midway through the third quarter, but the period ended with the Golden Knights still trailing by 13 at 53-40.
The Golden Knights ramped up the defense in the final ten minutes and nearly came all the way back. Trailing 57-42, Gannon ran off seven straight points to close to within eight points at 57-49 with still 6 minutes, 20 seconds remaining. Pirosko's spinning layup got the deficit under double figures for the first time since the second quarter.

Cal led 59-49 when Gannon made its final run. The Golden Knights outscored the Vulcans 9-3 over the next three minutes as the closed the gap to 62-58 3:08 left with the Highmark Events Center faithful going nuts. Maddy Wheatley (Canberra, Australia/UCSSC Lake Ginninderra) scored a pair of baskets and Wright hit two free throws to cap the run.
That was as close as the Golden Knights would get, however. Cal scored the next five points for some breathing room at 67-58. Boston McKinney's (Bolivar, Ohio/Tuscarawas Valley) layup interrupted the run, but the Vulcans scored the following six points to end Gannon's comeback hopes.

Madison Demski (Erie, Pa./Villa Maria) led three Golden Knights in double figures with a season-high 17 points. The 6'2" transfer from Holy Cross made 6-of-14 field goals, including a pair of 3-pointers, and was 3-of-3 at the line.

Despite being hounded by the Cal defense all afternoon Pirosko totaled 15 points, her 32nd straight game in double figures. She added a team-high eight rebounds while making 6-of-11 field goals and 3-of-3 free throws. The redshirt senior forward boosted her career total to 1,518 points, and she went over 600 career rebounds with 602. She set the season points record in Saturday's semifinal win over Shippensburg, now standing at 670.

Wheatley added 13 points. Wright totaled eight points and seven rebounds, and now has 1,007 career points combined between Gannon and Grand Valley State.  

Cal had four players score in double figures led by Halle Herrington's 20 points. She made 3-of-4 3-pointers to provide the outside game for the Vulcans, while Allycia Harris set the tone inside. Harris had 19 points and 209 rebounds, nine on the offensive end. The sophomore was selected the Tournament MVP. Ciaira Loyd totaled 16 points and seven assists while Rajah fink had 12 points.

After the slow start Gannon ended the game shooting 39.3 percent (24-of-61) from the floor, the first time under 40 percent in the last 21 games. They made 3-of-21 3-pointers, the second-lowest number of three's this year, but were a perfect 12-of-12 from the line.

Cal ended the day at 48.0 percent (24-of-50) from the floor, including 5-of-10 on three's, and went 22-of-29 from the charity stripe. With Harris leading the way the Vulcans held a 37-28 advantage on the glass. Gannon committed 16 turnovers and Cal 20.

Gannon now awaits the NCAA Selection Show at 10:30 p.m. this evening, when they will celebrate their selection into the NCAA playoff field.  
 
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