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`The Millersville women’s basketball team had their season cut just a bit shorter than they had hoped on Friday after falling to the University of Charleston in the opening round of the NCAA Division II National Championships in California, Pa.
After being eliminated in the semifinals of the PSAC Championships, the Marauders were slotted as the number five seed in the Atlantic Regional of the national tournament where they lost at the hands of the number four seed. The consecutive losses in postseason play no doubt overshadowed their outstanding regular season in which they shared the PSAC East regular season title with West Chester.
Millersville entered the PSAC championships as the number two seed in the East, riding the heels of a six game winning streak to close out the regular season. Their first matchup was against third-seeded Kutztown whom the Marauders had split a pair of games with during the regular season. Millersville controlled the majority of the game but struggled to keep the pesky Golden Bears off of their heels for most of regulation play. With just over six minutes left in the game the Marauders were clinging to just a two-point lead. With their hopes of advancing to the next round in limbo, Millersville dug deep and closed out the final six minutes of the game with an 18-9 run to finally topple Kutztown by a score of 75-64. Senior Gladine St. Julien paced Millersville with 26 points. Junior Aiesha Bellamy added 12 points and pulled down 11 rebounds, while Junior Emily Balogh came up big off the bench for the Marauders by piling in 14 points and grabbing seven rebounds in just 19 minutes on the floor. After surviving Kutztown, the team headed to West Chester to take on California (Pa.), whom was ranked third nationally, and held a 4-0 all-time record against Millersville in PSAC semifinals matchups.
History was on the side of the Vulcans as they defeated Millersville for a fifth time by a score of 67-57. Millersville held an early 10-point lead, and led by two at the half, which was only the third time California trailed at the break all season. The Marauders, like the many other opponents before them, were unable to keep the Vulcans’ offense at bay as they opened the second half with a 21-9 scoring run en route to piling 37 points in the second half and defeating Millersville. After falling behind by 14 with 9:30 left in the game, Millersville was able to claw back to a six-point deficit with just under one minute remaining in the game. The Vulcans, however, were able to nail all of their free throws in the last minute to end the game. “We dug ourselves into some holes we couldn’t get out of,” Emily Balogh said.
Junior Jenna Craig drives past her opponent during a recent game. Photo by: Christian Shuts.
St. Julien finished with 11 points and topped 1,000 points for her career and Bellamy also made her presence felt as she finished with 16 points, five rebounds, and four assists in an all around solid performance.
Millersville traveled to California (Pa.) to take on Charleston in the opening round of the tournament but went threw a bit of déjà vu from the previous week. The Marauders held on to another lead at the half, but were unable to close out the game once again and fell to the Golden Eagles by a score of 59-49.
In a relatively low scoring first half, the Marauders received all of their points from just three players. At the break St. Julien had 10 points, Bellamy had 8, and Junior Jenna Craig had six as the Marauders led just 24-23. After a scoreless stretch of 5:26, the Marauders fell behind early in the second half by a score of 34-25. After pulling back within four the Golden Eagles went on a 12-0 run which took most of the wind out of the Marauders. Millersville, once again, would not go away so easily and managed to pull within six with under two minutes remaining in the game, however they were unable to close the gap any further as their season came to an end when the final buzzer went off.
Although their season did not end the way they had hoped, the Marauders certainly had no reason to hang their heads. The Marauders captured the conference title for the second year in a row and were just two wins shy of tying the school record for most wins in a season. The team will lose only two seniors in Jenna Philo, and St. Julien who finished her career at 16th on the school’s all-time list with a total of 1,021 points. “We’re losing two great players and great leaders,” Balogh said. “But this season we had lots of accomplishments with players overcoming adversity and injuries. Hopefully we’ll have another good season [next year].”