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When Sports Were Played: W&J made splash in 2006 by winning PAC title

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For today’s “When Sports Were Played,” we have the Presidents’ Athletic Conference women’s basketball tournament championship game played Feb. 25, 2006, when Washington & Jefferson overcame a 10-point second-half deficit to knock off Thomas More.

Because it refused to let the comebacks run dry, the Washington & Jefferson College women’s basketball team was a soggy bunch Saturday afternoon.

After overcoming a second-half deficit for the second day in a row, rallying to defeat Thomas More 61-58 in the Presidents’ Athletic Conference championship game and cutting down the nets, several W&J players, while still in uniform, celebrated by taking a victory plunge in the Henry Memorial Center pool.

“When we were down in the second half, there was no panic,” said soggy W&J senior forward Lauren Slampak, who scored 21 points.

“We’ve been in that situation before. We know we can score. We were determined that we weren’t losing on our court in the championship again. We were the ones who would be diving in the pool after the game.”

It is the fourth PAC championship for W&J (22-4) and first since 2003. Last year, the Presidents were upset at home in the final by Westminster, and the Titans celebrated their win by diving in the pool.

The Presidents appeared to be washed up midway through the second half as Thomas More (21-8) used a 10-0 run to take a 49-39 lead. In the semifinals Friday, W&J overcame a seven-point deficit with nine minutes left to pull out a three-point win over Westminster.

Thomas More’s Kristen Humphrey was nearly unstoppable inside, scoring 15 first-half points and adding four more early in the second half.

The Presidents couldn’t stop Humphrey when playing man-to-man defense, and spent much of the game trying to find something that would slow the Saints’ inside game. They finally found it – a 1-3-1 zone – late in the second half. Humphrey scored only two points and did not attempt a shot in the final 13 minutes as the Saints had trouble getting the ball inside the zone.

“We settled for jump shots in the second half,” Thomas More coach Brian Neal said. “We didn’t play with the same composure the last five minutes.”

Those last five minutes were when W&J senior and three-time PAC Player of the Year Leigh Sulkowski took over. Sulkowski scored 12 of W&J’s final 18 points and finished with a game-high 25.

Sulkowski made a spinning move for a basket that stopped Thomas More’s 10-0 run, then scored six straight points in a variety of ways – a bank shot off a drive, a pull-up jumper while on the fast-break and a layup on a beautiful backdoor cut – during a 9-0 W&J spurt that gave the Presidents a 58-53 lead with 4:12 left.

“Leigh stepped up and took the ball hard to the basket,” Neal said. “That got W&J re-established while we got away from what we wanted to do.”

Still, the Saints pulled to within 60-58 on two free throws by point guard Christian Stefanapoulos with 2:36 to play. Those, however, would be the final points Thomas More would score.

The Presidents had plenty of chances to put the game away after a free throw by Slampak made it 61-58, but three turnovers and a missed shot gave Thomas More possession with 20 seconds left.

The Saints’ Alex Gee, the top three-point shooter in the PAC, had a three from the left wing go halfway down the basket, only to pop out. W&J’s Dayna Greenfield rebounded the ball but was knocked to the floor and called for traveling with 3.8 seconds to play, which left W&J with an interesting choice – foul and send the Saints to the line for two free throws, or play solid defense and prevent a three-pointer.

“I never considered fouling,” W&J coach Jina DeRubbo said. “We would give them anything inside the line, but defend the three and not foul.”

Thomas More inbounded to Brooke Warner, who bypassed a three to feed Gee, who was closely guarded by Greenfield on the right wing. Gee, a right-hander, could only heave a one-handed, left-handed line drive that ricocheted off the front rim as the buzzer sounded.

“We’ve played a lot of tight games. I think that paid off in the second half,” Slampak said. “We were picked to win the conference, so everyone plays their best against us, but we find ways to keep our composure at the end. Having a lot of experience and a lot of seniors helps.”

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