Vulcans easily top Edinboro
CALIFORNIA – Miki Glenn, California University’s left-handed sophomore point guard, spends more time at the free-throw line than any women’s basketball player in the PSAC.
Glenn leads the conference in free throws attempted with 146 through 20 games. That’s 22 more attempts than any other player.
And when Glenn gets to the foul line, she’s almost automatic. She makes 84 percent of her free throws. Glenn realizes free throws go a long way in deciding the outcome of basketball games between two good teams.
“My high school coach used to say ‘Don’t get fouled if you can’t make free throws.’ I learned to make ’em in high school. I made about 80 percent there,” said Glenn, a former first-team all-state player from Bridgeport, W.Va.
Free throws played a big part, along with California’s sticky defense against Edinboro’s guards, Saturday afternoon in the Vulcans’ surprisingly easy 75-48 victory in a West Division game at the Convocation Center.
Glenn scored a team-high 19 points for Cal (14-2, 17-3) and made eight of 10 free throws. The Vulcans were 19 of 24 at the free-throw line, where they held a huge advantage over Edinboro (11-5, 14-6). The defending PSAC champion Fighting Scots didn’t attempt a free throw in the first half and didn’t make their first foul shot until 7:13 was left in the game.
Cal outscored Edinboro 15-0 at the free-throw line in the first half as the Vulcans took control of the game early and forged a 45-23 lead by halftime.
Glenn was 7 of 8 at the free-throw line in the first half, and Cal was 15 of 18 as a team.
“Miki is deceptively quick,” Cal coach Jess Strom said. “She can handle the ball and is quick enough and strong enough to drive past you. She also uses her body well. She’s very good at drawing contact. In practice, we don’t call fouls. You have to be able to handle the contact and make a shot. Miki can do that. She an old-school player.”
Glenn and wing players Kaitlynn Fratz and Emma Mahady were the difference-makers for Cal. They used their quickness to drive past Edinboro defenders and either draw fouls or kick the basketball back to the perimeter for open three-pointers.
On defense, the trio spearheaded Cal’s attacking style that prevented Edinboro from standing and shooting. The Vulcans made Edinboro’s guards dribble and the Fighting Scots were unable to get to the free-throw line. Edinboro’s offense was limited to lobbing the ball to center Aignee Freeland, who scored a game-high 23 points.
The Fighting Scots’ Val Majewski, the PSAC West Player of the Year last season, was held to four points and leading scorer Lauren Hippo mustered just two free throws. Majewski and Hippo, both guards, combined to make only two of 16 shots.
“Edinboro leads Division II in three-point shooting percentage, so when you’re doing that you’re not putting the ball on the floor and driving very much. You want to stand and shoot,” Strom said. “We wanted to get in their face and put pressure on the ballhandler.”
The strategy worked as Edinboro made only one of eight three-pointers on the day.
“Every time we play them, our defense seems to shake them,” Glenn said. “We put them outside of their comfort zone. There is something about playing us that they don’t like. You could see them getting frustrated.”
Cal led 20-4 nine minutes into the game and Edinboro never recovered. The Vulcans led 45-23 at halftime. By the time the Fighting Scots attempted their first two free throws – both misses – Cal had a 60-33 advantage.
It was an impressive performance by the Vulcans, who forced 27 Edinboro turnovers.
“Edinboro is a very good team. They’re the reigning PSAC champs, and they have the talent,” Strom said. “However, on defense there’s an attitude that we seemed to play with today. Our defense enabled us to get some easy shots.”
The win sets up a rematch with West Division-leading IUP (14-1, 18-1) Wednesday. Cal dealt the Crimson Hawks their only loss, 73-68 in overtime, at the Convocation Center on Jan. 10.
Mahady finished with 15 points for Cal, Fratz had 13 and Irina Kukolj had a solid game with 10 points and four steals.