Briefs
BV falls in 4 OTs
Lancaster Catholic sank two free throws with 2.6 seconds left in the fourth overtime to defeat Belle Vernon, 84-82, in the second round of the PIAA Class 4A playoffs at Altoona Tuesday.
Regulation ended with two teams tied, 52-52. The first overtime ended tied at 59, the second at 70-70, and third at 78-78.
Devin Atkinson led Lancaster Catholic with 26 points. David Kamwanga added 19 points, Calan Titus 16, and Nevin Roman 10.
Jared Hartman scored 26 for the Leopards. Jake Haney added 15, Devin Whitlock 14 and Thomas Hepple 14.
Robert Morris wins NEC championship
Robert Morris used a second half surge to defeat league-rival Saint Francis, 77-67, Tuesday night in the Northeast Conference tournament championship.
With the victory, the Colonials have qualified for the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2015.
Dante Treacy, AJ Bramah, Josh Williams and Yannis Mendy all scored in double-figures as the top-seeded Colonials (20-14) extended a nine-point halftime lead to as much as 19 in the second half en route to a convincing win in front of an electric home crowd on Peoples Court at the UPMC Events Center.
Treacy finished with a career-high 18 points on 72% shooting (8 for 11), connecting on two of his four 3-point attempts and dishing five assists. The sophomore also added three rebounds and two steals in 25 minutes of play.
Williams ended with 17 points, while Bramah and Mendy each added 11. The Colonials shot 48% percent as a team, outrebounded Saint Francis 35-30 tallied 36 points in the paint. The Red Flash (22-10) shot a lowly 17% (3 of 17) from deep. The loss was just their second over the last 12 games – both coming against Robert Morris – within the last two weeks.
College softball
The Washington & Jefferson College softball teams split its two games, dropping the opener 12-6 to Wittenberg and defeating Wheaton (Mass.) 4-2 in the PFX Spring Games in Clermont, Fla.
In Game 1, Wittenburg scored six runs in the second and six more in the third with 10 hits to take a commanding lead. Victoria Toetz led Wittenberg by going 4-for-4 with three RBI and scoring twice.
Peyton Eckenrode and Brooke McCleester each had a pair of hits for W&J (4-4).
In Game 2, the Presidents came back from a two-run deficit by scoring all four of their runs in the top of the fifth inning for the win. Lexie Creyer hit a run-scoring double to score Kate Barone. Kristen Fuetes hit an RBI single and Brooke Lapia doubled down the right-field line to score a pair to lead 4-2.
- The California University softball team posted a split in a pair of one-run contests at the PFX Spring Games on Tuesday afternoon, suffering a 2-1 loss in extra innings to Salem before winning a 1-0 victory over Saint Thomas Aquinas (N.Y.).
With the split, the Vulcans stand at 3-9 overall while playing in both Arizona and Florida this year.
Cal suffered a 2-1 loss against Salem after the game was forced to the international tiebreaker following the seventh inning. With a runner on second, the Tigers collected a single before later scoring the go-ahead run on a sacrifice fly. The Vulcans had runners on the corners in the bottom of the inning with one out before a pop-out and ground-out ended the game.
In lacrosse
The Washington & Jefferson women’s lacrosse team scored early and often in a decisive 19-3 victory over Hiram College in the Spring Break trip finale Tuesday morning in Clearwater.
Four different Presidents recorded four goals each as the Red and Black tallied a season-high 19 goals while holding the Terriers to just three goals, which was a season-low by a W&J opponent.
Sofiya Bobrovnikova, Becca Ghion, Clara Sherwood and Alexis Miller finished with four goals apiece in the victory.
The Presidents dominated the game from the outset, as the Red and Black recorded the first five goals before eventually taking an 8-1 lead on a goal by Ghion at the 15:04 mark.