Feb. 24, 2010
Box Score
CLARION - Bethany Koch scored a career-high 28 points and Lizzie Suwala added 18 points while scoring her 1,000th career point to lead the Clarion University women's basketball team to a critical 73-67 win over visiting Lock Haven Wednesday night at Tippin Gym that kept the Golden Eagles playoff hopes alive.
Clarion (14-12 overall, 5-8 PSAC-West) now controls its own destiny in a bid for a third straight PSAC Playoff berth. The Golden Eagles travel to Edinboro for a 1 p.m. game Saturday with the winner of that game clinching the fourth and final PSAC Playoff spot awarded to the PSAC-West.
The Golden Eagles, who needed Edinboro to lose to IUP while they were beating Lock Haven, got good news with just under three minutes to play when IUP defeated the Fighting Scots 64-62 in overtime. That coupled with Gannon's win over Mercyhurst leaves Clarion in the same position it was in last year needing to go to Edinboro and win to clinch a playoff spot. A year ago, Clarion defeated the Fighting Scots 80-65 to clinch a playoff spot on the season's final day.
Against Lock Haven Wednesday, the Golden Eagles built a 55-41 lead with 11:42 to play only to watch the Lady Eagles rally to tie the game at 61 on a 3-pointer by Peaches Nesmith with 4:43 left. But Sara Pratt's layup off a Rachel Graeff pass 42 seconds later put Clarion back in front for good and started 6-1 run that put Clarion ahead 67-62 with 2:20 to play.
Lock Haven tried to rally cutting the deficit to two, 67-65, with 59 seconds left by Graeff hit 2 of 3 free throws and Suwala 4 of 4 to close out the victory.
It was a milestone night for Suwala, who needed four points coming into the game to score 1,000 in her career. She reached that plateau on a jumper with 14:46 left in the first half. She ended the night with 1,014 points including 842 points and Clarion and 172 in one year at IUP.
Koch, meanwhile, was on fire hitting 11 of 20 shots from the field including 3 of 6 3-pointers while bettering her previous career high by three points. Graeff added nine points, seven rebounds and six assists with Janelle Zabresky chipping in eight points and 11 rebounds and Sara Pratt eight points, six boards, four assists and a season-high five blocked shots.
Nesmith led Lock Haven with 16 points, 13 rebounds and three steals off the bench, while Kacie Hershey, Jaime Donovan and Casi Donelan each had 12. Kristen Kudrick chipped in 10 points and seven rebounds.
