By Justin Zackal
Five times since 2011, the Saint Vincent women’s basketball team entered the PAC tournament as the second seed, but the Bearcats are finally the top seed and host of the semifinal and finals rounds this year. Former league member Thomas More earned hosting rights each year since 2007, but now Saint Vincent has an opportunity to win its first-ever PAC title.
Ninth-year head coach Jimmy Petruska also likes how his Saint Vincent (21-4, 15-1 PAC) team is playing as the Bearcats have a double bye in the tournament and are automatically in the semifinals. The first round is Monday and the quarterfinal round Wednesday, each on campus sites tipping at 7 p.m., while Saint Vincent hosts the final two rounds Friday and Saturday.
“We’ve been playing very consistent and we’ve had a steady improvement throughout the year,” Petruska said. “We feel very confident and comfortable with where we are on both sides of the ball, and we’re all finally healthy. We have a lot of energy and that’s a great thing to have right now.”
But any injuries, most notably missing sophomore forward Madison Kollar (16.3 ppg, 5.0 rpg) three games earlier in the year with an ankle injury, didn’t seem to faze the Bearcats because of their balance throughout the lineup.
“It’s always been a team effort for us,” Petruska said. “We’ve had one PAC Player of the Week all year. That’s speaks volumes about what we’ve been doing as a team.”
Saint Vincent’s one conference loss came at home, Jan. 21, to Washington & Jefferson, 59-58. While Kollar, the Bearcats’ leading scorer, missed the game, W&J was without its third leading scorer, sophomore guard Lauren Gilbert (13.1 ppg), in the second half.
“W&J played well and they rallied around one of their best players getting hurt and they had a good game plan,” said Petruska, who said his team didn’t adjust quickly enough and allowed Danielle Parker to drain some 3-pointers (Parker led W&J with 21 points, 12 of which on 4-of-7 shooting from 3-point range). “It was good for us to be exposed a little at that time; it was something we didn’t want to happen, but there’s a lot of things that go into that. We became better because of it.”
And as for the rest of the PAC, a lot of things can happen, too.
“There’s a lot of good teams in our conference and anything can happen; our conference proved that with all the crazy games and crazy scores,” Petruska said. “There’s a lot of teams playing very well.”
Here’s a look at other seven teams that qualified for the tournament:
#2 WASHINGTON & JEFFERSON (18-7, 13-3 PAC)
Some of those crazy games can be attributed to W&J losses. The Presidents lost two home games in a three-game span to eighth-seeded Thiel and fourth-seeded Chatham, but the W&J won its final four games to secure the second seed. Parker, a senior forward, leads W&J with 15.4 points and 8.0 rebounds per game. W&J is seeking its sixth PAC title and its first since 2006.
#3 GROVE CITY (15-10, 10-6 PAC)
Grove City lost by 10 at W&J on Saturday but previously won four straight to grab the three seed. The Wolverines are led by junior forward Kate Balcolm (13.7 ppg, 5.0 rpg) and sophomore forward Jess Bowen (12.4 ppg, 6.7 rpg). Grove City’s only PAC title came in 1987.
#4 CHATHAM (12-13, 8-8 PAC)
The Cougars improved by five PAC wins from last season under first-year coach David Sauer, thanks to having three of the league’s top eight scorers: senior guard Katie Sieg (16.4 ppg), senior guard Ashley McClain (15.1) and senior guard Megan Sieg (13.9 ppg). The Cougars have never won the PAC.
#5 BETHANY (13-12, 8-8 PAC)
The first of four teams not to receive a bye, Bethany went 2-4 in February but both wins came in its last three games. The Bison are the top rebounding team in the PAC with a plus-6.1 per-game margin, despite not having a player ranked in the PAC’s top 10 in scoring or rebounding. Senior guard Sammie Weiss leads the Bison with 13.3 ppg. The Bison, seeking their first title since 2004, have won the PAC six times, tops among active members.
#6 WESTMINSTER (8-17, 6-10 PAC)
The Titans are hosting their first PAC tournament game since 2014, despite losing five of their last six games. Junior forward Emily Fromknecht leads the Titans with 11.4 ppg and 9.6 rpg, the latter ranks second in the league. Westminster’s lone PAC crown came in 2005.
#7 WAYNESBURG (8-17, 6-10 PAC)
Waynesburg split the season series with Westminster but will travel to New Wilmington for the first round because of the second tiebreaker (matching wins vs. higher seeds; Westminster’s best win was over Grove City and Waynesburg was 0-2 vs. Grove City). The Yellow Jackets are led by sophomore guard Andrea Orlosky, whose 17.2 ppg ranks third in the PAC. All four of Waynesburg’s PAC titles came in the early 1990s.
#8 THIEL (6-19, 4-12 PAC)
Petruska said he has the utmost respect for all the teams in the PAC but when asked which team could make a surprise run at the title the first team he mentioned was Thiel, the lowest seeded team. Thiel is capable of pulling upsets, as evident by beating W&J, 73-64, and their first-round opponent Bethany, 77-69. However, the Tomcats lost their last four games. They are led by senior guard Jess Vormelker, who ranks second in the PAC with 20.5 ppg after she bucketed a season-high 31 points against Waynesburg on Wednesday. All three of the Thiel’s PAC titles came in the late 1980s.
