Point Park women’s basketball defeated Salem University on the road on Saturday afternoon in its regular season finale by a score of 66-56, a win that was sparked by a fourth quarter offensive surge.
“Through the first three quarters we scored a majority of our points in the paint. Our guards knocked down big time shots from the perimeter to help us pull away in the fourth,” coach Dave Scarborough said. “We leaned heavily on our two seniors Lex and Camille to step up, and they did exactly that.”
Salem came out strong at the start of this game, putting up one of their better efforts of the season. They held a 20-16 lead at the end of the first quarter and then a slim 32-31 lead at halftime.
The Pioneers responded well in the third quarter, posting 16 points and eventually taking a 47-45 lead.
Point Park’s offense finally exploded in the fourth quarter, kickstarted by an 8-0 run and capped off by a 6-0 run to push the Pioneers to victory.
“The message was simple; we’ve been here too many times this season, one bad quarter is the difference between winning and losing,” Scarborough said. “We stressed the importance of execution. We aren’t running an offensive play just to dribble and pass or to be in a certain defensive package just to be a statue.”
As mentioned by Scarborough, the Pioneers relied heavily on their senior players in the fourth quarter and throughout this game.
Camille Fultz posted her second double-double of the season on Saturday, recording 11 rebounds and 19 points and going 7-14 from the floor. Alexis Giles posted 17 points and was a perfect 10-10 from the free throw line.
Point Park also had another strong performance from freshman guard Kamryn Pieper. She recorded a career high of 10 points for the third time this season, as well as six rebounds and two blocks. Scarborough shared his admiration for how the freshman has handled herself in her first year of collegiate basketball.
“KP doesn’t get enough praise for what she does for our program both on and off the court,” Scarborough said. “It’s incredibly challenging playing DII basketball as a freshman, specifically her significant role…She’s playing with confidence, consistency and maturity during the most important part of our season.”
With the regular season coming to its end, the Mountain East Conference Tournament will begin on Wednesday, March 4 at WesBanco Arena in Wheeling, W. Va. Point Park enters the tournament as the No. 10 seed and will face the No. 7 seed Frostburg State.
The Pioneers’ biggest challenge in this matchup will be containing Frostburg’s Julie Spinelli. The sophomore forward, who is a native of Pittsburgh, finished second in the MEC in scoring with 502 points and an average 17.9 points per game. Spinelli also averaged 7.4 rebounds per game and posted a season total of 208.
“We need to make her life difficult on both ends of the floor and not let anyone else beat us,” Scarborough said. “We need carryover from Salem with our execution in all four quarters to reward ourselves with a win. Our program has a lot of fight left and is eager for Wednesday’s matchup and beyond.”
Tip-off for Wednesday’s game is scheduled for 12 p.m. The winner will move on to face the No. 2 seed West Virginia Wesleyan on Thursday, March 5 at noon.
