Fayette women advance to PSUAC Championship game

Written by: Dan Smay

The first PSUAC women's basketball semi-final game between Fayette and Greater Allegheny started fast paced on both ends of the floor.  With the tip-off going to the ladies of Fayette, Greater Allegheny quickly forced a turnover, and capitalized with a three pointer by Taylor McCallister for the first points of the tournament.

The nerves calmed within the first five minutes of the game, but the shots had not started falling until after the timeout at 14:03 by Greater Allegheny when the score was 10-7, Greater Allegheny.

It would not be long until Fayette would take the lead when Fayette's Jill Guthrie hit the shot and one to make it 14-12.  Greater Alegheny's McCallister would hit a jumper off of a screen to tie it at 19.  The teams would trade a few buckets until Greater Allegheny's Jasmine Williams sliced through the Fayette defense for a couple of quick buckets to put her team up 25-23.  They would stay up for a few minutes until Fayette's Kasey Ruble connects with her teammate Caitlyn Wantroba for the fast break layup to tie the game with 1:30 left in the first half, and a few more buckets from Fayette would secure their lead going into the half 33-30 with Guthrie leading the way with 14 points.

Greater Allegheny took the first possession of the second half, but Fayette would come out with both strong offense and defense.  Fayette started the second half with a 10-2 run, but Greater Allegheny would not let them get away too far without putting up a fight. 

Monica Poupakis from Greater Allegheny hit a three out of a timeout to keep her team in sight of Fayette, but Fayette's Wantroba would come right back with her own triple.  The difference would stay the same with a 54-45 score until the 10:36 mark when Fayette would start to use their transition buckets to pull away. 

Fayette's Guthrie hit a three pointer, but Greater Allegheny's Rachel Halaszynski would make a valiant attempt to keep her team close with a good post move to keep it within 12 points, but Guthrie would come back with another three to give Fayette their biggest lead of the day.

Another fast break assist from Fayette's Ruble to Guthrie would give Guthrie the bucket and the free throw to give them the 20 point lead, and the ladies from Fayette would go on to win with the final score 81-60 to put them in the Conference Championship game tomorrow at 1:00pm.

Guthrie put up a double-double, and led all scorers with 28 points and 16 rebounds.  Teammate Wantroba also added 24 points for the Ladies from Fayette.  Greater Allegheny's Christina Floyd grabbed a game high 17 rebounds, with Halaszynski and Poupakis adding 16 and 14 points respectively.