PAC game has area flavor

There will be a strong Youngstown-area flavor to tonight’s Westminster women’s basketball game against Washington & Jefferson in the Presidents’ Athletic Conference tournament.

Five players will be involved in the semifinal game at Thomas More College in Crestview Hills, Ky., that will start at 6.

Westminster (16-10) is coached by Rosanne Scott of Struthers and lists three area players on the roster — Gina Brunetti (Cardinal Mooney), Amy Dolsak (McDonald) and Kaitlin McCarthy (Lowellville), while W&J (20-6) will counter with Emily Hays (Boardman).

The other semifinal will pit Thomas More (26-0) against Grove City (11-15). The two winners will play Saturday at 2 p.m. for the PAC title and a berth in the NCAA Division III tournament.

Westminster lost to W&J twice this season, 80-49 on Jan. 5 and 77-65 on Feb. 6, but since that latter loss the Titans have won five out of six games, including a 61-41 PAC quarterfinal win over Chatham Tuesday behind senior Emilee Ackerman’s 25 points and 10 rebounds.

Thomas More won the PAC regular season championship with a 14-0 record, while W&J (11-3) finished second, followed by Bethany (10-4) and Westminster (7-7).

Brunetti, McCarthy,
Dolsak help Titans

Brunetti, a 5-foot-7 junior guard, is averaging 9.3 points and 4.3 rebounds for the Titans, while Dolsak, a 6-0 sophomore guard-forward, is scoring 6.5 points per game, and McCarthy, a 5-5 freshman guard, 5.4 points per game.

Ackerman, a 5-8 senior guard-forward, leads the team in scoring with a 23.1 average, which ranks No. 3 in NCAA Division III. She also leads the Titans in rebounding (9.4) and steals (35 total).

Scott, a former Bethany standout, is in her sixth season at Westminster with a 92-72 record, including a 22-7 mark last season, which was the best record in the program’s 32-year history.

Hays, a 6-0 junior forward, is W&J’s second-leading scorer (11.2) and rebounder (4.5), behind Maggie Gibson, a 6-1 sophomore forward, who is at 12.0 and 9.6, respectively.

Hays has led or shared the Presidents’ scoring in lead in nine games, including three of the last four. And in W&J’s last outing, she and Gibson had 19 points each in a 94-57 quarterfinal win over Thiel Tuesday. Hays enjoyed a perfect shooting night — 7-for-7 from the field and 5-for-5 at the foul line.

Thiel season hampered
by Amber Bodrick’s loss

Meanwhile, Thiel (7-18, 4-10 PAC) definitely was hampered by the loss of leader Amber Bodrick (Cardinal Mooney), who suffered a significant concussion Feb. 6 in a game at Bethany and was lost for season.

Bodrick led Thiel in most major statistical categories in her 19 games played this season with 19.8 points, 9.8 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game. The 5-8 junior also had 29 blocks and ranked second with 42 steals.

Thiel had a 7-12 record after the Bethany game, but without Bodrick lost its last six games.

For Bodrick’s career, she has played in 68 games, starting 67 of them, and has 1,421 points, 625 rebounds, 139 steals, 135 assists and 65 blocks.

Also on the Thiel roster are Kim Stitt (Hickory), Elysa Farrell (Kennedy Catholic) and Tressa Scahill (Sharon). Stitt, a 5-11 freshman guard, was second on the team in scoring (9.6) and third in rebounding (6.8). Farrell, a 5-10 senior forward, averaged 4.9 points and 3.6 rebounds, and Scahill, a 5-4 freshman guard, averaged 2.8 points while ranking second in 3-point goal percentage with 33.3 on 14-for-42.

Also in the PAC are Kortni Collins, a 5-11 sophomore forward for Bethany from Newton Falls, who averaged 2.2 points and 3.3 rebounds; and Whitney Goist, a 5-6 junior guard for Geneva (20-5) from Columbiana, with 1.7 and 2.2, respectively.

XJohn Kovach covers college athletics for The Vindicator. Write to him at kovach@vindy.com.