Westminster women dominate at Thiel
The Titans overcame poor shooting in the first half.
By BILL ALBRIGHT
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
GREENVILLE, Pa. — It wasn’t exactly pretty for all 40 minutes, but for Westminster’s women’s team it was a big road victory as the Titans broke open a tight game with a strong second half for a 66-49 win over Thiel.
One stat that pretty much told the story of the opening 20 minutes was the field goal shooting — both teams were under 20 percent.
“It wasn’t like we weren’t getting good shots because we missed I don’t know how many layups in the first half,” Westminster coach Rosanne Scott said. “The girls were getting frustrated that they weren’t scoring, but I just told them to hang in there and eventually the shots would fall.”
Westminster (11-3, 4-1 Presidents’ Athletic Conference) led 27-23 at halftime and 27-25 early in the second half, then took control with a 16-6 run that made 43-31 with 13 minutes remaining.
“I told the girls to just keep running the offense and playing their game that they would be OK,” Scott said. “We started getting some of the calls in the second half that we didn’t get in the first half, and when we got to the line, we made the most of them.”
Emilee Ackerman led the rally, scoring the first nine points of the run. She led all scorers with 27 points.
“When we went up by 10 I felt a lot better,” Ackerman said. “I am actually a lot better second-half player than first half. In the first half, I usually watch to see what the other team is doing defensively so I know what will work. I think in the second half we just wanted it more. It was a nice win for us.”
Kaitlin McCarthy (Lowellville) added 10 points and six assists for the Titans.
Thiel coach Artina Trader felt poor shot selection held her team’s scoring down, particularly in the first half.
“I thought the first half was pretty much a grind-out situation,” Trader said. “We weren’t moving well early in the game, but as it went on, we started getting things together a little better. We weren’t getting good looks, but I think that just shows how well Westminster was playing on defense. I thought they played a really good game.”
The first dozen minutes were about as close they could have been with neither team leading by more than three points.
Michelle George and Jasmin Jones scored 12 points each for Thiel. Amber Bodrick (Mooney) was held to 10 before fouling out with five minutes remaining. Jones also had 11 rebounds.