By Duane Cochran
For the Times West Virginian
ERIE, Pa. — It took top-seeded and unbeaten Gannon (Pa.) University about nine minutes to get warmed up here Friday night in front of a near-capacity crowd of over 1,700 fans at the Hammermill Center.
Then the Lady Knights showed eighth-seeded Fairmont State why they’re the No. 1 team in the nation.
Gannon broke a 14-13 game open with a 36-10 run during the final 11:05 of the opening half in the first round of the NCAA Division II Atlantic Regional and rolled to a 92-65 victory over the Lady Falcons.
“It was a very intense game. It was an NCAA Tournament game and our atmosphere here made it feel like that the whole time,” said Gannon head coach Cleve Wright, whose team improved to 34-0 with the victory. “I’m pleased with the way our kids handled that.”
Fairmont State, on the other hand, finished its season at 22-10. The Lady Falcons got an outstanding individual performance in the game from senior guard Ashley Vavrek, but unfortunately she had to shoulder the majority of the offensive load for FSU throughout the game.
She finished with a game-high 39 points and was the lone Lady Falcon to reach double figures. FSU also got seven points and four assists from true freshman point guard Kaitlin Snyder and seven points and eight rebounds from junior center Rachel Murray.
Vavrek was 14-of-23 from the field, including 8-of-13 on 3-point field goals. She finished the contest just one made 3-pointer shy of tying the NCAA Division II Tournament record of nine made 3-pointers in a single game.
“Obviously we would’ve liked to have done a better job on Vavrek, but she’s a phenomenal player,” said Wright. “I mean she’s absolutely phenomenal. I felt like she came to play tonight and you could tell she wasn’t going to go down without a fight. The last three, four or five minutes we were able to do a little better against her, but she was really unbelievable. Finally at the end we were able to get the ball out of her hands. I didn’t think we did a good job of that early in the game.”
Vavrek scored 36 of FSU’s first 59 points. She finished the season with 699 points, the second-highest single-season point total in school history. She also ended her career with 1,612 points, a total which ranks sixth in school history.
“We lost to a very high-caliber team tonight which is very good,” said Vavrek. “Our team did so many good things this year that you really can’t be mad. I mean, it hurts to lose, but we all played well, we all played hard and we had great season.”
As noted, the talented, deep and physical Lady Knights began to impose their will on FSU midway through the first half. Gannon pummeled Fairmont State on the glass the entire game, finishing with a 49-23 advantage in rebounding. Gannon also shot 52.4 percent from the field for the game (33-of-63), including 57.1 percent in the first half when it opened a 50-23 advantage. The 50 points were the most points FSU allowed in an opening half this season.
“We played a very good basketball team,” said FSU coach Steve McDonald. “They’re very, very good and I’m not just blowing smoke. When you get to this level you might get by with a two-minute bad stretch here or there. You can’t have a bad seven or eight-minute stretch like we did late in the first half. The score went from 22-16 to 50-23 to end the half. That’s when the game was obviously won and lost.
“At the same time, I can’t say enough about how proud I am of our kids for their efforts in the second half. We challenged them at halftime to play in the second half and realize that it says Fairmont State on their jerseys and in 10 years we’ve turned that into meaning something.
“As a result, our community is very proud of them and I’m very proud of them because we played them even-up in the second half and it wasn’t a B.S. second half. It was a go-after them second half. They weren’t subbing in their last three or four players trying to get to the end of the game. It was basketball and my kids showed up in the second half. Because of that I’m very proud of them.”
Gannon was led by senior Carrie Nolan’s 27 points, 17 of which came in the second half. The balanced Lady Knights also got 19 points and a game-high 15 rebounds from senior center Brittany Tabron, 16 points from senior Kim Vargas and nine points and 13 rebounds from senior guard Kristina Freeman.
Gannon will face fifth-seeded Seton Hill (23-7) tonight in the second round at 7 p.m. at the Hammermill Center. The Lady Griffins topped fourth-seeded Fayetteville State Friday, 73-64.
In the other half of the Atlantic Regional bracket at California (Pa.) University Friday, the second-seeded Lady Vulcans eliminated seventh-seeded Virginia State, 72-60, and sixth-seeded Millersville defeated third-seeded West Liberty, 66-50. Cal and Millersville will battle tonight at 7 p.m.
