Feb 25, 2007 By Adam Gretz For The 4 min read

CALIFORNIA – The California University of Pennsylvania basketball program swept a crucial PSAC West doubleheader on Saturday as the women’s team dropped the visiting Fighting Scots 67-45, while the men closed out the nightcap with a 73-59 thrashing of their kilted guests. Both games had playoff implications as the women’s victory clinched the Vulcans the number two seed in the PSAC playoffs and secured a home playoff game on Tuesday night against Shippensburg. Had they lost the contest they would have had to travel to Indiana as the number four seed.

“It’s extremely important for us to have the home game,” said California head coach Darcie Vincent. “We’ve only won two road games in the section this year. When we played up at Shippensburg a few weeks ago they beat us pretty well and we sat a lot of our starters for a while in that game. I’m sure we’re going to come out fired up for this one.”

Edinboro managed to give the Vulcans a strong fight for the first 30-minutes of play until Kelsy Conklin fouled of the game. Conklin entered the contest averaging over 12 points and 7 rebounds per game. After she exited, the Vulcans went on a dominating 23-5 run to put the game out of reach and secure the victory.

“The big key for us was when Conklin left,” said Vincent. “The important thing for us was to get the lead because we’ve struggled at times offensively this year. But once we get a lead I am very confident in the defensive sets that we are able to throw at people. Anytime you can hold a team to only 45 points it’s a tremendous accomplishment.”

The Vulcans had four players reach double-digits in scoring including senior April Smith and Kim Nowakowski who each registered a double-double. Smith finished with 12 points and 10 rebounds while Nowakowski tallied a game high 20 points and 12 rebounds. It was her 16th double-double of the season. Nowakowski also registered game highs in blocks and steals with three apiece.

The men’s win had special meaning to head coach Bill Brown who tied former coach Jim Boone for first place on the schools all-time wins list with 228 wins. Boone coached the Vulcans from 1987 to 1996.

The Vulcans had five players register double-digits in points as James Petty lead the way with 14. Connellsville graduate James Hairston scored 12 points, including a put-back slam-dunk that electrified the crowd late in the second half. Hairston also tallied 4 rebounds, an assist and a block.

“We’ve been very balanced all year,” said Brown following the game. “We’re not the type of team that can just send two guys out there and let them score 25 or 30 points, we have to remain balanced. It’s a big part of our success this year and hopefully we can stick with it.”

Aside from their balanced scoring attack, the Vulcans also dominated the glass as they out rebounded Edinboro by a substantial 45-25 margin.

“There is still only one constant in the game of basketball, and that is defense.” Said Brown. “Offense and scoring may put fans in the seats but defense is going to win you championships, and that is what we have to remain consistent with from here on out. I thought coming in we were going to have the depth advantage over them and the rebounding of course was a huge key for us as well.”

The men’s victory clinched the PSAC west regular season championship for California and guarantees them the number one seed in the PSAC playoffs.

“This today was only one of our goals that we set out to accomplish,” said Brown. “Our next goal is to get one of those automatic bids and the only way to take care of that is to win the PSAC tournament.”

The Vulcans will open that tournament on Tuesday night at Hamer Hall as the backend of a double-header against an opponent that has yet to be determined.

“As Dorothy once said in the Wizard of Oz, there is no place like home,” said Brown.