Fighting Scots moving on to NCAA after conference title

The Edinboro women’s basketball team capped off a 19-3 PSAC record with the postseason title, taking home the championship in a 77-66 victory over Millersville. The Fighting Scots used a 44-point second half to pull away.

With the win, they received an automatic bid to the NCAA Division II Women’s Basketball Championship, where they were then awarded a four seed. They’ll play fifth-seeded Virginia State University (23-5) on Friday in the first round. The game will be in Richmond, Virginia, approximately 29 minutes away from Virginia State, essentially making the contest a home game for the Trojans. 

The game will be broadcast live by Edinboro Campus Media on WFSE Radio 88.9 FM and on edinboronow.com. 

Edinboro actually defeated the top seed in their region of the bracket, Virginia Union, topping them 89-79 on Nov. 11 in 2017. They would meet Virginia Union if both teams won their first round games. 

The last time Edinboro and Millersville played against each other was at McComb Fieldhouse early in the season on Nov. 18, where Edinboro won 83-63. 

The Fighting Scots, coming off a win in the PSAC semifinals over West Chester University on Saturday, started their usual lineup of Jontay Walton, Michaela Barnes, Whitney Allen, Ciara Rosten and Michelle Jahn. 

Barnes put the first points on the board less than a minute into play, after which it became a back and forth scoring match between the two teams. 

With 5:48 left on the clock in the first quarter, Barnes sunk the first 3-point shot of the game, which brought the score to 11-4 with the Scots in the lead. At the end of the first, the Fighting Scots were leading 20-14.

The second quarter started off slightly slower. Millersville’s Dimoff put the first points on the board with just over eight minutes left on the clock.

The Fighting Scots would remain scoreless for over two minutes at one point, until Rosten put up a shot from inside the paint bringing the score to 26-23 with Edinboro still in the lead. 

Millersville would take the lead for the first time shortly after. They would actually carry this advantage into halftime, leading 36-33.

Another slow start to the third quarter for Edinboro meant their first points were scored with a little over seven minutes left on the clock by Walton. Exactly one minute later, Walton sunk a 3-pointer that would tie the game at 41-41 with a little over six minutes left. A 3-pointer from Millersville would quickly break that tie.

Edinboro eventually pushed ahead, leading 55-49 heading into the final quarter of the championship game.

Edinboro held onto their lead for the entire quarter to emerge as the champions with a final score of 77-66.

Walton led the way for the Fighting Scots with 22 points. Barnes had 18 and Jahn scored 13. Rosten led with 14 rebounds. Walton, Barnes and Jahn all grabbed five rebounds each.

With the win, the Scots sit at 26-3 going into the NCAA tournament. 

Madi Gross can be reached at sports.spectator@gmail.com.

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