2024-25 Women's Basketball Regional Championship
Matt Durisko
59
Indiana (PA) IUP 23-8,15-5 PSAC
72
Winner Gannon Gannon 28-6,16-4 PSAC
Indiana (PA) IUP
23-8,15-5 PSAC
59
Final
72
Gannon Gannon
28-6,16-4 PSAC
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 F
Indiana (PA) IUP 14 11 12 22 59
Gannon Gannon 21 12 15 24 72

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

Golden Knights Make it Back-to-Back Atlantic Regional Crowns with 72-59 Win over IUP

Ratliff named Tournament MVP, Claxon earns All-Tourney honors

EDINBORO, Pa. – We're headed to Pittsburgh! The Gannon women's basketball team earned a second straight trip to the NCAA Division II Women's Basketball Elite Eight on Monday night with an impressive 72-59 win over Indiana (Pa.) in the Atlantic Regional Championship game.
 
Seeded second in the regional, Gannon, now 28-6, navigated through CIAA champion Fayetteville State, No. 3 seed Seton Hill and finally No. 4 seed IUP (23-8) to earn its fourth regional title. The Golden Knights previously won the Atlantic Regional a year ago along with 2010 and 2013. All four have come under head coach Cleve Wright.
 
The game was the rubber match between the two PSAC West rivals. They had earlier split regular season games with each winning on the others' home court, with both games being decided in the fourth quarter. IUP defeated top-seed and host Edinboro in the semifinals.
 
This time around the Golden Knights took an early lead and hit plenty of big shots down the stretch while holding IUP to 16-of-46 from the floor over the last three quarters.
 
Gannon gained the lead for good on a Maddy Wheatley (Canberra, Australia/UCSSC Lake Ginninderra) 3-pointer at 11-8 midway through the first quarter and extended the lead to 21-14 after one period. The lead grew to 33-25 at the half. At one point IUP cut the deficit to four points in the third quarter but Gannon followed with a 12-2 run, the last five points by Kate Ratliff (Canal Winchester, Ohio/Canal Winchester).
 
The Golden Knights entered the final ten minutes leading 48-37 and IUP pulled no closer than six points after that.
 
Kate Ratliff (Canal Winchester, Ohio/Canal Winchester) was named the Atlantic Regional Tournament MVP. She was joined on the All-Tournament Team by teammate Bri Claxon (South Webster, Ohio/South Webster) (South Webster, Ohio/South Webster), along with IUP's Ellie Wilkerson, Hallie Cowan of Seton Hill, and Edinboro's Morgan Gentile.
 
Gannon now heads to Pittsburgh and the UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse for next week's NCAA Division II Elite Eight. The quarterfinals are slated for Monday, March 24. The NCAA will seed the eight regional winners.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
The first five minutes of the game were back-and-forth with four ties and two lead changes. Trinitee Harris' (Elkhart, Ind./Elkhart Central) layup tied the game at 8-8 and Maddy Wheatley (Canberra, Australia/UCSSC Lake Ginninderra) hit the first of back-to-back high-arching three's for a 14-8 lead. Gannon ended the first quarter holding a 21-14 lead despite The Crimson Hawks hitting 7-of-12 shots.

Gannon limited the Crimson Hawks to just 11 points in the second quarter and 12 in the third. Mia Slater (Canberra, Australia/Canberra Grammar School) scored the first five points for Gannon in the second quarter and when Kate Ratliff (Canal Winchester, Ohio/Canal Winchester) drove for a layup the Golden Knights were ahead 28-17. IUP scored the next six points and closed the gap to 33-25 at the half.
 
The Crimson Hawks opened the third quarter with the first four points as Gannon's lead was suddenly trimmed to four points. But IUP would score just five more points over the next nine minutes as Gannon went on a 15-5 run to take a 14-point lead at 48-34. Ratliff accounted for seven of those points, including the final five. IUP gained a glimmer of hope when Ellie Wilkerson launched a contested 3-pointer with 0.8 seconds remaining for a basket as the buzzer sounded. That made it 48-37.
 
IUP had one more run left. Gannon built the lead back up to 14 points twice in the fourth quarter and led 55-43 when IUP used a 9-3 run to trim the deficit to 58-52 with 2:56 remaining.
 
Ratliff made four free throws in a row and IUP never pulled closer than nine points in the final two minutes. The Golden Knights were 14-of-16 from the charity stripe over the final two-and-a-half minutes. In fact, Gannon's last basket was a 3-pointer by Bri Claxon (South Webster, Ohio/South Webster) (South Webster, Ohio/South Webster) with 3 minutes, 50 seconds left in the game.
 
BY THE NUMBERS
The Atlantic Regional Championship game featured two of the best defensive teams in the PSAC, with Gannon leading the PSAC in scoring defense and ranking second in field goal percentage defense. The Golden Knights ended up shooting 37.9 percent from the floor (22-of-58) while going 8-of-27 on 3-pointers. IUP shot 39.7 percent from the floor (23-of-58) but went 2-of-12 from beyond the arc. In addition, the Crimson Hawks were 7-of-12 after one quarter and just 16-of-46 after that.
 
Gannon made a deceiving 20-of-25 free throws, with IUP forced to foul late. The Golden Knights shot just one free throw in the first half and seven after three periods before going 16-of-18 in the final ten minutes. IUP made 11-of-17 free throws.
 
Bri Claxon (South Webster, Ohio/South Webster) (South Webster, Ohio/South Webster) led all scorers with 19 points, making 6-of-14 field goals, including 3-of-8 3-pointers, along with 4-of-4 free throws. The junior added six rebounds, two assists and three steals while earning a spot on the All-Tournament Team.
 
Kate Ratliff (Canal Winchester, Ohio/Canal Winchester) was named the Tournament MVP after another stellar effort both offensively and defensively. The 6-foot-0 sophomore scored 18 points, making 10-of-12 free throws. She added seven rebounds, five assists and three blocks.
 
Post players Mia Slater (Canberra, Australia/Canberra Grammar School) and Maddy Wheatley (Canberra, Australia/UCSSC Lake Ginninderra) turned in strong efforts, as well. Slater came off the bench to contribute 14 points, making 6-of-8 field goals including a pair of 3-pointers. She also pulled down six rebounds in 22 minutes. Wheatley finished with nine points, a team-high eight rebounds and a pair of blocked shots.
 
One player singled out by head coach Cleve Wright in postgame interviews was Tori Mayes (Lake City, Pa./Cathedral Prep). The sophomore guard only scored two points all night on a pair of free throws in the final two minutes. But he raved about her defensive effort while helping to limit IUP's leading scorer, Shamia Strayhorn, to just eight points. She also played a key role in Gannon turning the ball over just nine times.
 
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