Jan 26, 2022 3 min read

CALIFORNIA – Trailing by 13 points at the half Wednesday evening, the California University women’s basketball team roared back to knock of PSAC West-leading Seton Hill, 62-56, at the Convocation Center.

“I feel like this is the first game I have seen Cal U grit,” Vulcans head coach Jess Strom said. “We work hard, but we had ‘it’ tonight.

“Whatever it is, teams fight back after being down by 13, we could given up and tanked it and pouted.”

The loss snapped a 10-game winning streak for Seton Hill’s (10-2, 16-5) while putting Cal (5-3, 10-3) back in the mix in the PSAC West.

After a cold shooting night Monday in a loss to Gannon, the Vulcans shot well in the first quarter as they made eight of 16 attempts, and when Lauren Bennett hit an 18-foot jumper at the buzzer, Cal led 17-14.

“The last couple of days, we watched film and got in the gym,” Strom said. “We have to be confident and we took good shots.”

However, the Vulcans reverted back to their shooting struggles from Monday in the second quarter as they only made only two of 12 shots.

The Griffins made seven of their 14 shots in the second, including four of five from three-point range, as they used a 22-6 advantage in the quarter to take a 36-23 lead into halftime.

The team that came out of the Cal locker room after halftime had a different energy level and it paid off as Cal outscored Seton Hill 21-6 in the third quarter to take a 44-42 lead into the fourth.

Did Strom give the team a pep talk during halftime?

“It wasn’t a pep talk but it was something,” she said while smiling. “I don’t care if they get mad at us, but they needed the challenge and they accepted.

“At the half, they were mad at things we said, and they came together for each other.”

Shauna Harrison came out motivated and scored 13 of her career-high and game-high 20 points in the third quarter to pace Cal.

“The first half wasn’t how Cal U used to be and the coaches definitely let us know,” Harrison said. “It got us going and my teammates set me up with good passes.

“The win, and hitting the shots, feels great since I have been in a (scoring) drought and hopefully I am out of it for the rest of the season.”

It was Seton Hill’s turn to go ice cold as it made one of 12 attempts (8.3 percent) in the third quarter.

The Vulcans took the lead for good when Harrison made a three-pointer with 7:07 to go and led by as many as eight points down the stretch.

“I am proud of the girls, and this is our best win of the season because of how it happened,” Strom said. “We did the little things and it made the difference.”

Bennett and Dejah Terrell joined Harrison in double figures with 12 points apiece. Katie Nolan led Seton Hill with 17 points.

Two Seton Hill players have local ties. Cheyenne Trest (Canon-McMillan) finished with 10 points and Sam Kosmacki (South Fayette) had five.