Cortazzo’s shooting sparks W&J to win
The Washington & Jefferson College women’s basketball team is a win away from having a championship and a school record to call its own.
Junior guard Taylor Cortazzo scored a season-high 23 points Saturday afternoon and made four of W&J’s 10 three-point field goals as the top-seeded Presidents rolled to an 85-55 victory over fourth-seeded Marywood in the ECAC South Region semifinals at Henry Memorial Center.
The Presidents (24-5) will host Stevenson (16-10) in the championship game today at 1 p.m. Stevenson advanced with an 83-75 victory over Waynesburg in the first semifinal game.
The 24 wins ties the W&J record for most in a season. The Presidents’ 2008-09 team also won 24 games.
W&J wasted no time against Marywood (19-9). The top-seeded Presidents scored 31 points in the first quarter and led by 19 after only 10 minutes. W&J finished the first quarter with a 12-1 flurry that started with a three-pointer by Cortazzo, who was 4 of 7 from behind the arc.
The Presidents led 46-27 at halftime and increased the gap to 70-45 after three quarters.
W&J forced 26 turnovers, outrebound Marywood 46-35 and was 10-for-21 from three-point range.
Thirteen different players scored for W&J. Beka Bellhy was the only player to join Cortazzo in double figures. She scored 10 points. Amirah Moore had eight points and eight rebounds.
Matsha Hessling paced Marywood with 12 points.
Stevenson 83, Waynesburg 75: Junior forward Sara Tarbert scored a game-high 38 points, including 21 in the second half, as third-seeded Stevenson held off seventh-seeded Waynesburg in the day’s first semifinal.
Tarbert, who averages 22.2 points per game and has a season-high of 41, made 14 of 25 shots from the field and eight of 11 free throws to help Stevenson advance to the title game.
Stevenson held Waynesburg (15-14), which upset second-seeded McDaniel in the first round, to nine first-quarter points and led 34-26 at halftime. The Mustangs pushed their lead to 12 points late in the third quarter before Waynesburg closed to within 59-56 in the fourth quarter after one of point guard Lauren Blair’s six three-pointers. Two more three-pointers by Blair, who finished with 18 points and eight assists, drew the Yellow Jackets to within 65-64 with six minutes remaining. That, however, was as close as Waynesburg could get.
Blair scored all of her 18 points in the second half.
Kaitlyn VanTash tallied 14 points for Stevenson, and Caitlyn Roy had 10. The 6-1 Tarbert, a transfer from Division I Maryland-Baltimore County, led Stevenson on the boards with nine rebounds.
Addy Kentzer led Waynesburg in scoring with 23 points on 11-for-16 shooting. She also grabbed a team-leading eight rebounds.
Heather Davis scored 13 points and Kassidy O’Keefe came off the bench and contributed 10 points.