Mar 6, 2022 4 min read

The California University of Pennsylvania women’s basketball team was held to a season-low in points on Sunday afternoon, including just four in the fourth quarter, while suffering 59-47 loss against Gannon in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Championship hosted by Kutztown.

With the loss, the Vulcans fall to 24-5 overall after advancing to the PSAC Championship for the first time since 2017. Cal U will now await a likely at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament after entering the league tournament slotted second in the latest NCAA regional rankings. Meanwhile, the Lady Knights improve to 24-6 this season and secure the conference’s automatic qualifier for the NCAA Tournament. Gannon also becomes the first school to win back-to-back conference titles since Cal U repeated as league champions in 2015 and 2016.

Junior Dejah Terrell (Reading, Pa./Berks Catholic) recorded her 13th double-double of the season with 17 points and 14 rebounds (four offensive). She shot just 6-of-23 from the floor and went five-of-nine from the free-throw line while playing 39 minutes. Terrell also tallied three blocks, three steals and two assists on Sunday.

Fellow junior Ciaira Loyd (Scranton, Pa./Scranton) finished with 15 points on 6-of-15 shooting and three assists. Classmate Shauna Harrison (Sheffield, England/Myerscough) posted seven points and five rebounds while battling first-half foul trouble and junior Brionna Allen (Pittsburgh, Pa./Bishop Canevin) tallied six points, four rebounds and two steals in the loss.

The Vulcans scored the opening five points of the first quarter before the Lady Knights mounted a 10-5 run behind eight points by graduate transfer Emma Wright to tie the score at 10-10 at the 5:14-mark.

The teams then traded baskets before both were held scoreless for over two minutes. Cal U scored a basket with 51 seconds left before Gannon answered with a field-goal on the next possession to tie the score at 14-14 at the end of the quarter.

Allen scored the initial points of the second quarter before Gannon responded with 11-unanswered points, including a pair of three-pointers by Wright, to take a 25-16 lead with 5:21 left before halftime. The Vulcans snapped the scoreless drought with a traditional three-point play by Terrell at the 4:16-mark that sparked an 8-1 run, all points by Terrell, to trim the deficit to 26-24 with 11 seconds remaining. Wright, who led all players with 15 first-half points, was forced to the bench with foul trouble late in the second quarter. Cal U was whistled for a foul with less than one second left in the quarter and Gannon converted both free-throws to take a 28-24 lead at the break.

Cal U tallied the opening six points of the third quarter to take a 30-28 lead on a layup by Terrell at the 7:08-mark. The Lady Knights countered with a 11-5 run, making five-consecutive field goals, to reclaim the lead at 39-35 with 4:26 remaining. Following the media timeout, Gannon made a layup before Cal U posted an 8-3 rally to trim the deficit to 44-43 on a jumper by Loyd with 31 seconds left. The Lady Knights scored on their final possession of the quarter to hold a 46-43 lead at the end of the third quarter. Gannon sophomore Samantha Pirosko, an All-PSAC West First-Team selection this year, scored 11 of the team’s 18 points in the quarter.

The Vulcans managed just four total points in the fourth quarter after shooting just 2-for-17 from the floor. Gannon scored six of the initial eight points in the quarter to take a 52-45 lead with 6:00 remaining. Loyd registered the last points of the game for Cal U at the 5:49-mark, as Gannon closed the contest on a 7-0 run despite making only one field goal over the last six minutes.

Cal U was held to just a .321 field-goal percentage (18-of-56) and made only 2-of-10 from beyond the arc. Meanwhile, Gannon shot 40.0 percent (20-of-50) from the floor and converted 14-of-17 (82.4 percent) from the free-throw line. The Lady Knights held a 40-32 rebounding advantage and scored 26 points inside the paint, while the Vulcans forced 18 turnovers in the contest.

Wright scored a game-high 19 points on five-of-nine shooting, including three-of-five from beyond the arc, and six-of-seven from the free-throw line. She was named PSAC Tournament MVP after totaling a combined 34 points over the weekend. Pirosko finished with a double-double of 16 points and 12 rebounds (four offensive), while junior Emily Poling posted 13 points and seven rebounds.