Mar 17, 2005 By Rob Burchianti 6 min read

Beth Swink was playing a game early in her freshman season for the Saint Francis (Pa.) University women’s basketball team when it suddenly became clear to her. “We were playing a game at Cincinnati,” said the Connellsville graduate. “I’m not even sure I scored that much, but I played more than I ever had before that game, and I remember thinking to myself, ‘I can do this.’

“For whatever reason, things clicked that game and it gave me a lot of confidence. Then I kind of went from there.”

Where Swink has gone is at a place very few have visited.

In four years with the Red Flash, the 6-foot-2 senior center has rang up 2,120 points to become the second-leading scorer in school and Northeast Conference history. In that span she’s led Saint Francis to four consecutive NEC championships and four straight berths in the NCAA tournament.

The Red Flash (21-9) are seeded 14th in the Tempe Regional and play at third-seeded and 12th-ranked Minnesota (24-7) in the first round at approximately 9:30 p.m. on Saturday. The game, at Williams Arena in Minneapolis, will be televised live by ESPN2.

The one thing missing from Swink’s illustrious career is a victory in the NCAA tournament. Saint Francis is 0-8 so far, but this is only the second time it’s been seeded as high as 14. The Red Flash have been a No. 15 seed four times and No. 16 seed three times.

Saint Francis earned a bit more respect this season from the NCAA by playing a loaded non-conference schedule. Its current 14-game winning streak, which is the second longest in school history and fourth longest current active string in NCAA Division I, helped out as well.

“We definitely played a tougher schedule this year with Virginia, Virginia Tech, Kentucky, Vanderbilt, West Virginia and Bowling Green,” Swink said. “We lost a lot early on, but we went in and got experience from those games that will hopefully help us now.”

Even so, the Red Flash haven’t stayed within double digits in any NCAA tournament game yet, and beating the Lady Gophers won’t be an easy task.

“I know Minnesota’s center is very good, and they have a good shooting guard,” Swink said.

The center Swink was referring to is 6-2 senior center Janel McCarville, who is averaging 16.7 points and 10.0 rebounds per game.

The 22-year-old Swink matches up well with anyone in the country, statistically, however.

She’s third in the country in scoring at 22.7 points per game, and is also averaging 6.8 rebounds and 2.2 assists. She leads the Red Flash in minutes played (37.2 per game), field goal percentage (.520), free throws made and attempted (176 of 224 for a .786 percentage), steals (54), blocked shots (21) and fouls (88). She’s even hit her only 3-point attempt of the season.

Swink, the daughter of Charlie and Carol Swink of Connellsville, is climbing up several career lists in addition to scoring.

She’s second in Saint Francis history in free throw attempts (610), free throws made (463) and field goals made (838), third in rebounds (950), fourth in steals (201) and field goal attempts (1,435), and fifth in blocks (87). She needs to drop in only four more baskets to move to the top of that all-time list.

The reigning NEC Player of the Year, Swink was named the NEC Player of the Week four times this season and 12 times in her career.

Swink played two seasons with the Red Flash under coach Mindy Hill before Jill Poe took over last year.

“Jill helped me a lot in working on my individual game,” Swink said. “I started to score a lot more since then. But Coach Hill was a great coach as well.”

Not that long ago Swink was making a mark at Connellsville as a softball and basketball player. She helped lead the Lady Falcons to the WPIAL softball championship game as a freshman, and to the WPIAL basketball semifinals and into the PIAA tournament as a senior.

“It was only a few years ago, but it seems like forever,” Swink said in looking back at her high school career.

Swink was such a talented softball player there were thoughts she could do both at Saint Francis.

“It crossed my mind, but basketball takes so much time, after awhile I just didn’t think I could do both,” Swink said.

One thing that remained the same from high school to college for Swink was support from her family.

“My parents come to the home games and even to a lot of the away games,” Swink said. “They’ll be in Minnesota, too.”

Saint Francis defeated Robert Morris in the NEC championship game, 65-50, on March 12 to earn the conference’s automatic NCAA tournament bid. Swink had 13 points, six rebounds, three assists and one blocked shot in victory, and was voted the tournament MVP.

The game was televised on Fox Pittsburgh, which included an interview with an obviously shy Swink.

“I’m really not comfortable doing interviews, especially talking about myself,” Swink admitted.

Swink does like discussing one of her most treasured awards, though. She was recently named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America first team.

“That’s probably the award I’m proudest of,” said Swink, who carries a 3.71 GPA as a biology major who intends to enter the dental field. “I think that shows a lot more about who I am than my basketball stats.”

Swink is planning on attending dental school and has applied to the University of Pennsylvania while having worked at a dental office in Greensburg in past summers.

Still, professional basketball remains an option, although Swink has decided to deal with the questions of her future after the NCAA tournament.

“It depends,” Swink said when pondering briefly. “I’m not sure yet. I applied to dental school so I’ll see what happens there. I’m just taking everything in right now. I’ll make a decision when it’s all over.

“I’m thinking of the future a little bit, but right know I’m still riding the rush of the season. We won the NEC again, but we still want more.”

Even Swink is overwhelmed when she looks back at what has transpired in her career at Saint Francis ever since that important game against Cincinnati three seasons ago.

“I never dreamt all this would happen, not at all,” Swink said. “I mean, 2,000 points?

“I thought I might have a decent career, but I never thought I would do all that I’ve done, and all we’ve done as a team.”