Westmoreland County campus clippings: Seton Hill women's basketball moves up to No. 5 ranking

Seton Hill vaulted four spots in the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association Division II Coaches Poll, taking the No. 5 spot in the top 25.

The Griffins (17-2, 11-1 PSAC) continue to look impressive in what has been one of their best regular seasons.

The team also ranks fifth in the D2CSC poll. They are No. 1 in the Atlantic Region.

Seton Hill used a fourth-quarter rally to get past Edinboro, 73-67, for their fifth straight win.

Sophomore Hailee Ford led the Griffins with 19 points, while junior Helene Cowan (13), junior Corinne Eisner (11) and junior Hallie Cowan (10) also reached double figures.

Sophomore Mia Kalich had nine rebounds and seven steals.

Seton Hill suffered its first home loss of the season Saturday, an 89-75 setback against No. 15 Gannon.

Women’s basketball

Grove City: Senior guard Mara Polczynski (Norwin) had 13 of her game-high 17 points in the first quarter in an 84-60 victory over Franciscan in the PAC. She also pulled down 10 rebounds and had eight steals.

Polczynski had seven points, five assists and four steals as the Wolverines defeated Westminster, 55-47.

Mercyhurst: Junior Bailey Kuhns (Greensburg Central Catholic) was named the Northeast Conference Player of the Week and an NEC Prime Time Performer. She had a 28-point, 12-rebound game against LIU.

Saint Vincent: Behind a 37-point third quarter, the Bearcats blasted winless Thiel, 98-34, to improve to 10-8 overall and 9-4 in the PAC.

Freshman Emerson Peffer had 14 points on 6-for-6 shooting, and sophomore Kate Bolinger scored 10.

Peffer was named the PAC Newcomer of the Week.

Men’s basketball

Pitt-Greensburg: Sophomore Trent Rozich had 16 points, 10 assists and nine rebounds, and junior Matthew Marinchak scored 19 points as UPG (11-7, 5-4 AMCC) edged past Penn State Behrend, 77-73, for its eighth win in nine games.

The Bobcats also defeated Mount Aloysius, 85-81, in AMCC action as junior Joziah Wyatt-Taylor made 10 of 11 shots and posted a double-double with 21 points and 10 rebounds, and Rozich added a double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds.

Rozich was awarded for his strong play by being named AMCC Player of the Week.

Pitt-Johnstown: Sophomore Adam Bilinsky (Norwin) scored a season-high 13 points, grabbed six rebounds and dished three assists in 32 minutes as the Mountain Cats fell to Gannon, 91-83.

Bilinsky made his fourth start of the season.

Saint Vincent: Freshman 6-foot-7 forward Matthew Puodziukaitis had 14 points, while grad student Osyon Jones and freshman Terek Crosby had 11 apiece to lead SVC to a 77-54 win over Thiel to move to 14-4 overall and 10-3 in the PAC.

Four players scored in double figures as the Bearcats thumped Franciscan, 70-56.

Senior Mike Iuzzolino and junior Dev Ostrowski had 13 points each, and Jones and Crosby scored 10 each.

Iuzzolino had five steals, and Jones grabbed five rebounds.

Seton Hill: Sophomore Kedrick Curtis scored 24 points and grabbed nine rebounds to power the Griffins (12-8, 5-7 PSAC) to a 79-72 upset of No. 23 Gannon at McKenna Center. Grad student Ryan Meis scored 13 points, and junior James Rice added 10.

Meis pumped in a team-high 26 points, including 4 of 7 3-pointers and 6 of 6 free throws, to pace the Griffins to a 79-63 win over Edinboro.

The Griffins’ win vaulted them back into the D2CSC Atlantic Regional rankings, at No. 10. Gannon had been No. 1 in the poll.

Washington & Jefferson: Freshman Cam Rowell (Franklin Regional) was named the PAC Newcomer of the Week. Rowell made 13 of 17 shots over two games, producing 19 points, six rebounds, three blocks and three steals in his first start, a loss to conference-leading Chatham.

He added 17 points, six rebounds and five steals in a win over Westminster.

Wrestling

Bucknell: Fifth-year Kurt Phipps (Norwin), a 133-pounder, won a 7-5 decision as the Bison fell to Drexel, 20-13, for their first EIWA loss of the season.

The win was the 98th of Phipps’ career.

Pitt: The Panthers have seven wrestlers listed in the first NCAA Coaches’ Rankings of the season. Among them are Finn Solomon (Franklin Regional), who is 23rd at 149 pounds, and redshirt sophomore Dayton Pitzer (Mt. Pleasant), who is 12th at heavyweight.

Saint Vincent: Sophomore 125-pounder Sean Cain, sophomore Ryan Yocum (141) and sophomore Logan Bechtold (158) won via fall, and junior Kyle McCollum (133) scored a technical fall, as the Bearcats defeated Hiram, 48-6.

SVC improved to 4-6 overall and 2-0 in the PAC.

Women’s swimming

Chatham: Freshman Hannah Uhrinek (Hempfield) was named the PAC Swimmer of the Week. She won three races in a tri-meet against Franciscan and Juniata, capturing the 200-yard butterfly (2 minutes, 20.65 seconds), the 100 freestyle (56.88) and the 100 butterfly (1:02.50).

She has not lost a 200 butterfly race all season.

Also for the Cougars, senior Ali Cowan (Derry) won both diving events against Juniata and Franciscan, including a season-best score of 433.65 in the 11-dive against Franciscan.

Men’s swimming

Saint Vincent: Junior Jacob Dzurica (Hempfield) was named the PAC Swimmer of the Week. Dzurica picked up four wins in a victory over Westminster: the 100 backstroke (53.62), 100 freestyle (47.15) and also helped the 200 medley and 400 freestyle relays to wins.

Men’s volleyball

Grove City: Sophomore Andrew Kessler (Penn-Trafford) was named the PAC Offensive Player of the Week. Kessler had a team-high 11 blocks over two matches, including eight — with five kills — against Penn State Behrend.

Saint Vincent: Junior Zabadiah Wyant had eight kills, and junior Shawn McSwiggen added five as the Bearcats registered their first win of the season, 3-0 (25-9, 25-22, 25-17) over Wilson.

Freshman Jackson Genicola (Norwin) had six digs in the win.

McSwiggen was named the PAC Offensive Player of the Week.

Women’s track and field

Michigan: Sophomore Liz Tapper (Hempfield) broke the program indoor record in the shot put for a third straight meet. Her latest mark of 17.32 meters (56 feet, 10 inches) came at the Crossroads of America Invitational.

Saint Vincent: Freshman Grace Neubert was named the PAC Newcomer of the Week. Neubert broke the program record in the 5K with a winning time of 17 minutes, 56.58 seconds at the Youngstown State Invitational.

Sophomore Miranda Cincotta ran to a school-record time of 5:08.79 seconds in the mile run — she broke her own mark of 5:12.37 — and placed second at the SPIRE Midwest Invitational.

Her teammate, sophomore Kristen Prince, won the 5,000-meter run in 18:38.30.

Baseball

Cal (Pa.): Junior relief pitcher Jake Kramer (Hempfield) was named a preseason D2 Baseball First Team All-American on the eve of a new season.

Kramer finished off 10 of 12 save chances last season and broke the school’s single-season mark for saves with 10, 16 for his career.

He went 4-1 with a 1.47 ERA in 30 2/3 innings and 20 appearances.

Seton Hill: The Griffins were picked to finish third in the PSAC West and were rated tied for fourth in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Atlantic Region Preseason Poll.

Last year, the Griffins finished 41-17 (20-8 PSAC West) and reached the NCAA Atlantic Super Regional.

The season is set to open Feb. 15 against USC Aiken.