By Duane Cochran
For the Times West Virginian
FAIRMONT — Ashley Vavrek’s Most Valuable Player-winning performance in the recent West Virginia Conference Tournament helped Fairmont State claim its second league tournament title in three years and earn its third NCAA Division II Tournament berth in the last six seasons.
The 5-8 senior guard from Bellaire, Ohio was outstanding for the Lady Falcons all season, but in the league tournament when sixth-seeded FSU needed her most she unquestionably rose to the occasion.
Vavrek, who has scored in double figures in all but one of the Lady Falcons’ games this season and has reached double digits in scoring in an amazing 56 of her last 60 games in an FSU uniform, averaged 24.5 points per outing in Fairmont’s four WVC Tournament victories.
She shot 43 percent from the field (28-of-65), including 41.7 percent from 3-point range (10-of-24). She also connected on 80 percent of her free throws (32-of-40), pulled down 14 rebounds, dished out 10 assists, recorded eight steals and averaged 41.1 minutes of action per outing for the Lady Falcons who claimed the title with a thrilling come-from-behind 85-78 overtime victory over fifth-seeded West Liberty.
In FSU’s first-round win over West Virginia State, Vavrek scored 20 of her 22 points in the second half to help her team wipe out an 18-point second-half deficit and record a 62-57 victory.
In the quarterfinals she hit the game-winning shot on a driving layup with 6.8 seconds left to give FSU a 64-62 win over the University of Charleston. She scored 26 points in Fairmont’s 85-72 semifinal-round win over Shepherd and in the title game she scored 31 points, including the last seven in regulation and six of her team’s 15 points in overtime to help the Lady Falcons wipe out a five-point deficit in the game’s final 1:42 of regulation.
Her outstanding performance allowed her to become only the second women’s player in FSU history to earn league tournament MVP honors. Danielle Cornish claimed the same honor on Fairmont’s 2008 championship team.
Still, despite all of her accomplishments, Vavrek remains very humble this week as she and her teammates prepare to face the nation’s No. 1 ranked team Gannon University (33-0) Friday at 6 p.m. in the opening round of the NCAA Division II Atlantic Regional in Erie, Pa.
“The MVP award means a lot to me mainly because we won the tournament which was the most important thing,” said Vavrek. “Being the MVP definitely wasn’t one of my goals I set for myself this season. It’s like an added bonus for me.
“But you know I really didn’t win it alone. We had so many players step up for us in the league tournament at crucial times. It’s like a team award.
“One of the key to us winning the tournament, in my opinion, was that everyone on our team understood their role and stepped up and filled those roles when they had to. Everyone also played within themselves which was crucial for us. We just all played very well as a team.”
Vavrek heads into the Atlantic Regional with 660 points this season alone. That total is the second-high single-season points total in FSU women’s basketball history ranking just behind All-American Kristen Gattuso’s 727 points in 2005. Vavrek is also currently sixth in school history in scoring with 1,573 career points, 1,516 of which have come the last three years.
For Vavrek and fellow seniors Mo Gattuso, Samantha Guell and Melissa Henry this will be their second appearance in the NCAA Division II Tournament. When those four were sophomores the Lady Falcons fell, 62-50, to Anderson (S.C.) University in the opening round.
“For us it’s a chance to go back to the national tournament and play another game and no matter who we’re playing we’re going to play hard and try to play our best,” said Vavrek. “At this point that’s all you can do.”
