W&J women rout top seed, reach PAC title game
LATROBE – Alie Seto scored a game-high 34 points and Washington & Jefferson never trailed as its routed top-seeded Saint Vincent 74-53 Friday night in the semifinals of the Presidents’ Athletic Conference women’s basketball tournament at the Carey Center.
The win sends fourth-seeded W&J (18-9) into the championship today against second-seeded Grove City (24-2). Tipoff is 5:30 p.m. The Wolverines, who have won 11 in a row, defeated Westminster 70-58 in the other semifinal. The PAC champion receives an automatic berth to the NCAA Division III tournament.
Saint Vincent (19-7) had swept the regular-season series against W&J but the Bearcats fell behind 8-0 in the first four minutes and never led in the playoff game.
The Bearcats did manage to tie the score at 8-8 before W&J ended the first quarter with a 17-14 lead. The Presidents went on a 9-2 run to start the second quarter and closed it scoring eight of the final 10 points in the first half for a 34-20 halftime lead.
The Presidents led by as many as 20 points in the third quarter and cruised the rest of the way.
Seto, a junior forward who was named first team All-PAC on Friday, made 12 of 18 shots from the field, including 3 of 4 from three-point range, and grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds.
Hannah Johnston scored 15 points for W&J, which shot 54 percent from the field, and Victoria Koeck had 11.