W&J men and women to play for PAC championships
The Washington & Jefferson men’s and women’s basketball teams are headed to Presidents’ Athletic Conference championship games.
Katie Kovalchick led four W&J players in double figures with 15 points and the Presidents pulled away in the second half to beat Chatham 58-42 Thursday night in the PAC tournament semifinals at Salvitti Family Gymnasium.
That game was followed by the W&J men defeating Franciscan 75-65 in the semifinals.
The W&J women (21-6) will play at Saint Vincent, a 78-60 winner over Bethany, in the title game Saturday with the winner gaining an automatic berth to the NCAA Division III tournament.
The men will face Westminster on Saturday (7:30 p.m.) at Salvitti Family Gymnasium. Westminster (19-8) advanced by defeating Chatham, 81-79.
The W&J women notched their third win of the season over Chatham (18-8). They didn’t gain the lead for good until late in the first half and took a 24-22 edge into the intermission.
A three-pointer by Riley DeRubbo capped a 10-2 run to start the half and pushed W&J’s lead to double digits at 34-24.
Kovalchick made two free throws with one second remaining in the third quarter to give W&J a 40-32 lead. Kovalchick then opened the fourth quarter with a three-pointer that gave the Presidents a double-digit lead again and Chatham was unable to generate enough offense to fuel a comeback.
The win sends W&J to the PAC title game for the seventh time in nine years.
DeRubbo finished with 14 points and Marina Grado, who played all 40 minutes, had a strong first half and finished with 13 points, seven rebounds and four assists. She made three of W&J’s eight three-point field goals. Stellanie Loutsion chipped in with 12 points.
Chatham’s Madison Nereu scored a game-high 19 points. Alyssa Laukus had 10 points.
W&J, 75-65
Nathan Plotner scored 22 points and Alex Acosta had a double-double to lead the Presidents to their third win over the Barons.
W&J shot 44 percent in the first half and took a 40-31 lead into halftime.
Plotner made 11 of 16 shots, grabbed six rebounds and blocked three shots. Acosta scored 12 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. The Presidents put four players in double figures as Matt Seidl tossed in 13 points and Cameron Rowell had 10.
High-scoring Sawyer Butler led Franciscan with 17 points but he was limited to 4-for-15 shooting. Nathan Richards came off the bench to score 15 points and Zach Oliver had 12 for the Barons, who finished the season with a 21-6 record.