ERIE, Pa. — Ashley Vavrek may have saved her best for last.
Fairmont State’s standout senior guard turned in a memorable performance in her final game in a Lady Falcon uniform last Friday night here at the Hammermill Center.
On a national tournament stage in the NCAA Division II Atlantic Regional against Gannon (Pa.) University the No. 1 team in the country, Vavrek literally stole the show.
Unbeaten Gannon unquestionably was the better overall team and proved it with relative ease, rolling to a 92-65 victory over the eighth-seeded Lady Falcons in the opening round of the national tournament.
But so impressive was Vavrek’s individual performance that when she departed the court for good with 1:08 remaining many in Gannon’s near-capacity crowd of over 1,700 gave her a standing ovation.
It was a fitting end to her stellar career and a well-deserved tribute to one of Fairmont’s finest women’s basketball players.
Vavrek finished the contest with a game-high 39 points, just two shy of tying her career-high of 41 set Feb. 23 of this year in a win over Pitt-Johnstown. She was 14-of-23 from the field, including 8-of-13 on 3-point field goals. Her eight threes in the game was just one shy of tying the NCAA D-II record for made 3-pointers in a single national tournament game. Oh, and she also handed out three assists and recorded a pair of steals in the game just for good measure.
Afterwards in the postgame press conference veteran Gannon head coach Cleve Wright couldn’t say enough good things about Vavrek’s performance, calling it both “phenomenal” and “unbelievable.” He was equally free with his praise for her play during the game as time and time again during the contest he turned to his assistant coaches on the Gannon bench and said things like “She’s a great player. We can’t stop her.”
Tenth-year FSU coach Steve McDonald, who has readily praised Vavrek’s play the past two seasons on a number of occasions, had these final comments on his senior standout.
“Ashley Vavrek is so special,” said McDonald. “I don’t talk about awards very often. I’ve had the pleasure of coaching all-conference players. I’ve had the pleasure of coaching all-region players and I’ve had the pleasure of coaching the regional player of the year in 2004-05 in Kristen Gattuso. Ashley Vavrek is as good, if not better, than any player in this region and for her to be named second-team (All-Atlantic Region) this year is a disservice to her. I would be remiss if I didn’t say that because she is so special.
“I gave her the greatest complement I could give on the bench when she was there after the game. I looked at her and said ‘Thanks.’”
One FSU player who was quick to point out how much she and the Lady Falcons will miss Vavrek next season was true freshman point guard Kaitlin Snyder.
“It’s going to be so different without her next season,” said Snyder, fighting back tears. “It’s different anytime you lose someone off of a team and we’re losing four great seniors who were great leaders for us, but the loss of a player like Ashley is especially difficult. In my opinion, she’s an All-American because she can do everything and she can do it under pressure. She can shoot from the outside, she can take the ball to the rim, she shoots free throws extremely well and she plays pretty good defense.
“I know when I was on the floor with her I always felt like I was in a bit of a comfort zone because when we needed someone to step up for us or someone to get a basket for us, all I had to do was get her the ball and let her go. She was just a great player for us and a player we’re going to miss a lot next season.”
Vavrek finished the season with 699 points, the second-highest single-season point total in school history behind Kristen Gattuso’s 727 during the 2004-05 campaign. Her 21.8 scoring average this season is among the national leaders and gives her the No. 4 ranking in school history in single-season scoring average.
She scored in double figures in 31 of FSU’s 32 games this season and had 16 games of 20 or more points and seven games of 30 or more points.
Vavrek ends her career with 1,612 points, which ranks sixth all-time in FSU history. She’s also second in school history with 248 career 3-point field goals and first in Fairmont State history in career free throw percentage .821 (428-of-527).
“I’ve had a great career here there’s no doubt about that,” said Vavrek. “Coach reminded me after the game that I passed up a chance to redshirt as a freshman and you know that’s never been something I’ve regretted, but right now after this season I might kind of regret it now a little bit.
“We just had a great season as a team. People really didn’t expect that much of us, but we kind of expected a lot of ourselves. We pulled together, never quit and found ways to win. We won a league tournament championship, we made it to the NCAA Tournament for the second time in my career and along the way I was fortunate enough to accomplish a lot of things as a member of the teams I played on here and as an individual. I have nothing but positive memories. It was a great career for me.”
