Cal’s NCAA trip cut short
CHARLESTON, W. Va. – Megan Storck and Lisa Gottuso were hoping their fourth and final NCAA Division II tournament appearance would be a memorable one. Instead, it was their shortest stint, put to an abrupt and decisive end by Wheeling Jesuit, 79-62, in the first round of the East Regional at Eddie King Gymnasium in Charleston, W. Va. on Friday night.
“This isn’t a game I’m going to remember,” said an emotional Storck, who helped lead the Vulcans to the 2004 national championship. “It’s tough. It hurts right now.”
Wheeling Jesuit (27-4), the No. 5 seed, avenged a loss to California in last year’s regional in advancing into the regional semifinals against No. 1 Charleston tonight.
The Cardinals used a balanced offense, putting all five starters in double figures, while fourth-seeded California (26-5) relied almost solely on sophomore star forward Kim Nowakowski, who scored a game-high 27 points while grabbing 14 rebounds and coming up with three steals.
Cal’s second-leading scorers were Storck and Brehane Dillon, each with seven.
Katie Repicky led Wheeling Jesuit with 18 points, and Sarah Setcavage followed with 15 along with 14 boards. Jenna Johnson scored 12 points, Lindsey Piar contributed 11 and Jade Eckleberry added 10.
“That was one of the keys tonight,” Vulcans coach Darcie Vincent said. “You need everyone of them to do their job, and tonight everyone didn’t do their job.
“Kim had three or four people around her sometimes because our guards couldn’t create for themselves. No one else on our team did anything tonight.”
Nowakowski made 10 of 21 shots from the field while the rest of Cal’s squad converted just 14 of 46 for 30.4 percent.
Both teams showed some nervousness early on as there were a combined five turnovers before California’s Keris Timol hit a lay-up at the 18:30 mark for the game’s first points.
Johnson’s short jumper and a free throw by Repicky put Wheeling Jesuit up 3-2 before April Smith’s basket put the Vulcans on top by one.
Johnson countered with a lay-up and Eckleberry drilled a 3-pointer for the Cardinals, and they would never trail again.
Wheeling Jesuit (27-4) pushed its advantage up to 10 twice before Cal fought back late in the half. Dani Mills capped a 13-5 run with a jump shot to pull the Vulcans within 33-31, but Johnson’s short jumper made it 35-31 at the break.
Repicky scored 14 points in the first half, including a trio of 3-pointers.
Nowakowski led Cal with 12 points before intermission despite being held scoreless the first 7:25 of the game.
The Vulcans sliced the gap to two and had an opportunity to pull even three different times in the first 10 minutes of the second half, but failed on each occasion.
After a basket by Nowakowski made it 35-33, Smith missed a lay-up and Piar quickly made a lay-up at the other end for Wheeling Jesuit.
Storck’s steal and lay-up was followed by a Gottuso steal on the inbounds play, leading to a bucket by Dillon to get Cal within 43-41, but the Vulcans missed a shot to tie and the Cardinals moved out to a 48-44 lead.
Consecutive baskets by Dillon and Nowakowski got California within two one final time at 48-46, but another chance to pull even was wasted by a turnover.
“Our biggest mistakes came at the most crucial times,” Vincent said. “Wheeling was good enough to take advantage of our mistakes.”
The Cardinals rode an 11-3 run to a 59-49 lead with eight minutes remaining.
“We hit a pretty good hot streak there in the middle of the second half,” Wheeling Jesuit coach Joe Key said. “I thought we did a good job of handling their pressure.”
The Vulcans cut the margin to seven on a three-point play by Nowakowski, but that would prove to be their final gasp. Wheeling Jesuit went on a 15-2 burst from there to all but put the game away.
“There are a lot of reasons we lost,” Vincent said. “They shot the ball extremely well. We had too many defensive breakdowns. We didn’t get our switches. We didn’t communicate well. We didn’t move the ball well on offense. We didn’t recognize weaknesses and strengths, and we forced some shots.”
Gottuso had six points, 10 rebounds, five assists and two steals in her final game.
Amber Kister contributed five points and six boards off the bench for the Vulcans.
Storck had four assists and two steals.