Westminster women struggle against Thiel
The Titans won 68-56, but the victory didn't come easily.
By BILL ALBRIGHT
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
NEW WILMINGTON, Pa. -- Westminster women's coach Rosanne Scott wasn't pleased despite the Titans' 68-56 victory over Presidents' Athletic Conference rival Thiel Wednesday night.
Earlier this season, Westminster beat the Tomcats by 32 points but Wednesday's game was a battle.
"It was frustrating for us on the sidelines because were forcing things that weren't there," Scott said. "We weren't smart and we certainly didn't play smart basketball."
Thiel coach Artina Trader liked some of the things she saw from her team.
"We have been playing some good basketball here at the end of the year," said Trader. "To come in here against one of the best teams in the league and hang in there like we did says a lot for our kids. I would have liked to have seen a different result obviously, but it didn't happen."
Titans dominate boards
The Titans dominated the boards (55-32), but they also turned the ball over 21 times.
"If it wouldn't have been for a couple of turnovers at certain times, we would have been right there," said Trader. "If you look at the stats, we had 16 steals and only 14 turnovers. We forced them into 21 turnovers and if we could have done something with those mistakes, it is a different ball game."
Normally a solid defensive team, Scott felt the Titans gave up too many easy baskets.
"It seemed like we were just happy to be trading baskets with them and you just can't do that," she said. "They have a number of players who can step it up."
Thiel jumped out to a quick 9-4 lead, but the Titans answered with nine unanswered points to take a 13-9 lead.
First half battle
Thiel, behind five points from Fontella Jones (Farrell), regained the lead at 18-17 before the Titans closed the half with a 13-9 run for a 30-27 lead at the intermission.
Westminster scored the first six points of the second half to lead by nine (36-27).
The Tomcats hung around to only trail by three points (51-48) with six minutes left before Westminster pulled away down the stretch.
Leading the Titans (19-5, 9-2) was Desiree Sterling (Newton Falls) with 25 points. Rachel Eaton added with a season-high 12 points and Emilee Ackerman scored 10.
Over 1,000 points
For Thiel (8-15, 3-8), Amber Bodrick (Mooney) led the way with 23 points, putting her over the 1,000-point plateau for her Thiel career. Bodrick has 1,011 points with several games remaining in her sophomore season.
It was a bittersweet night for Bodrick.
"It [reaching 1,000 points] means something to me, but right now, it is kind of hard to say just how it feels with the tough loss," said Bodrick.
Scott also knew that Bodrick's presence in the game would make a difference.
"I knew with her in the game it would be different with her ability to score points," said Scott. "But the fact remains that we were doing things that aren't characteristic of us. Give them credit because they came out and were ready for us."
Jones scored 12 points for Thiel.