STEUBENVILLE, Ohio - The Westminster College women's basketball team won, 90-60, in its regular season finale at Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) foe Franciscan University on Monday.
Westminster (5-4) came out of the gates red hot, jumping out to an 8-0 lead over Franciscan (1-7), including five points from first-year
Katie Fitzpatrick (Cumberland Center, ME / Greely) just under three minutes into the contest. The Titans held an eight point lead (23-15) after one. In the second frame, the deficit stayed at eight (31-23) with 6:53 left in the half. Westminster promptly ignited a 17-7 run to close out the half and took a 48-30 lead into intermission. The Barons got the deficit to 14 with two free throws and a three-pointer to open the second half (49-35), but that would be the closest they would get, as the Titans responded with an 18-10 run to close out the period and put the game out of reach.
Westminster was led by junior
Magen Polczynski (Irwin, PA / Norwin), who tied a career-high with 20 points, tied a game-high with eight rebounds and snatched a team-high two steals. Sophomore
Natalie Murrio (Pittsburgh, PA / Brentwood) matched Polczynski with 20 points (tied a game-high) and grabbed five boards. Senior
Ashley Russell (Belle Vernon, PA / Belle Vernon) followed up her career-high performance last game with another career-high tonight with 13 points on top of four assists and three rebounds. Junior
Megan Meyer (New Galilee, PA / Mohawk) finished with 14 points on five-of-six shooting. Fitzpatrick totaled 11 points and tied a game-high with eight rebounds, while first-year
Breannda Davis (Streetsboro, OH / Streetsboro) added six points and four boards.
For the game, the Titans shot a season-best 60% (33-55) from the field compared to 40.7% (24-59) from the Barons. Westminster also shot a season-best 55.6% (10-18) from long range and dominated Franciscan in points in the paint (44-28). Westminster also dished out a season-high 24 assists in the contest.
Westminster will now have at least a week-long break after earning a bye in the first round of the PAC Tournament and will find out their opponent for next week at the conclusion of this weekend.
