Feb 6, 2018 By Bill Hughes for The 4 min read

While most top prospects signed their Letter on Intent in December during the first-ever early signing period, the second signing period opens today.

Penn State, West Virginia and Pitt are all looking to improve on their December signings.

Penn State is ranked fourth nationally, but will more than likely drop at least one spot, as it can only sign three more players.

WVU is ranked 31st nationally so far, and a solid finish could catapult it into the Top 25 and maybe even sneak it into the Top 20.

Pitt, which concluded the early signing period ranked 11th in the ACC, has the best chance to make a move up the boards if it can sign some key targets.

WVU’s big road win

There was no doubt West Virginia’s men’s basketball team needed a big win, and it got just that Monday night with a win over Trae Young and Oklahoma.

Lamont West paced WVU with 17 points, and now the ‘Eers, who are in third place in the Big 12, have two winnable home games against Oklahoma State and TCU this week before heading to Kansas a week from Saturday.

Penn State Fayette moving in the right direction

Prior to last Wednesday’s basketball double header at Penn State Fayette, The Eberly Campus Athletic Director Lou Zadecky sat down for a few minutes to talk about the state of the athletic department on the Lemont Furnace campus.

“I am very pleased with where we are heading,” said Zadecky, who is nearing his three-year anniversary as the A.D. at Fayette. “Our numbers are up in almost every one of our sports and this are trending up for us.”

There are 12 teams total on campus, six men and six women, and Zadecky is excited about what the future holds.

“The student-athletes are working hard in their respective sports, but more importantly, in the classroom,” he said. “We have a great group of coaches leading the programs and we look to continue to improve across the board.”

Slagus, Bucknell heating up

Kaitlyn Slagus (Belle Vernon) and Bucknell have won four straight games, tying its season-long winning streak, as it prepares to host Lehigh tonight in a key Patriot League contest.

The Bison lost at Lehigh on Jan. 11, 66-62, but have won 5-of-6 since.

Slagus is averaging 11.2 points per game, good enough for second on the team, and leads the team in rebounds (8.2 per game) and blocks (21).

Slagus, a junior has led the team in scoring six times this season while leading the team in rebounds in 16 of the Bison’s 22 games so far.

Heading into tonight’s game, Slagus has scored 887 points and 597 rebounds in her career at Bucknell.

Allen, Cal State-Fullerton, trying to improve

When she was hired as an assistant at Cal State Fullerton this past off-season, Monessen native Charel Allen and the new staff knew it would be a long season due to a lack of numbers.

Some West Coast basketball experts thought the team would not win a game, but Fullerton sits at 7-14 heading into tomorrow night’s Big West game at Hawaii.

“We had a decent non-conference, but are struggling in conference play,” Allen said. “Hopefully, we can get things going in the right direction.”

Fullerton has lost five straight games.

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