Feb 28, 2018 By Bill Hughes for The 4 min read

Junior Kaitlyn Slagus is playing her best basketball of the season, and so is Bucknell.

The Belle Vernon graduate has been named the Bison Athlete of the Week after leading the Bucknell women’s team to wins over Navy and American last week.

“Personally, I am happy with how I have been playing at this point in the season,” Slagus said. “But I know that there is always room for improvement.

“With the team doing well, it’s not about how I am playing, it’s more important to me that I am helping the team in every way I can to make sure that we are successful.”

In a 49-40 win at Navy, Slagus scored 12 points and grabbed 13 rebounds to help the Bison clinch the second seed in the league tournament.

Slagus recorded 12 points and a career-high 17 rebounds in the win over American, which was its first league loss of the season.

The double-double was the fourth consecutive this season for Slagus and it was her 23rd of the season.

The win over American gave Bucknell a 20-9 record, its third straight season with at least 20 wins, and the team has won 10 straight games heading into its regular-season finale at Army West Point tonight.

“Coming into the season, we knew what we lost in last year’s class and that we would have to fill in with new roles,” Slagus said. “We are a pretty young team and knew it would take time how to play comfortably with one another and had to be patient.

“Thankfully we are clicking at the right time heading into tournament play.”

Keefer reflects on Carlow’s season

The Carlow men’s basketball team’s first-ever postseason berth lasted all of one game, but the experience is something that the team and head coach Tim Keefer will always remember.

“The loss ended the careers of three seniors, but we still have three of our original recruits,” he said, including Cole Novotney (Brownsville) and Austin Matta (Elizabeth Forward). “It was great to make the postseason but even more rewarding to see the young men who played for us obtain their degrees and move on to be productive citizens in the workforce.”

Rece Henneman (Jefferson-Morgan) will be a fourth-year starter and Keefer said help is on the way.

“Recruiting is going well and we have signed three players and are recruiting three more for the 2018-19 class,” Keefer said. “Our players who remain will come back in the fall hungrier and more experienced to make a deeper playoff run next year.

“We will return 12 out of our 15 players who dressed this year.”

The team dropped a 105-53 Rivers State Conference quarterfinal to IU Southeast, ranked 13th in the country.

Zimcosky looking ahead

The Ohio University women’s swimming and diving team finished seventh at the Mid-American Conference Championships, and Geibel Catholic graduate Emily Zimcosky was named to the All-MAC Second Team.

“I thought the meet went well,” said Zimcosky, who is a sophomore. “I was able to re-break my school record in the 200-meter freestyle, place top three in it and break the four-minute and 50-second barrier for the first time in the 500-meter freestyle,”

Zimcosky also spoke about other gains she made this season.

“Although I think these time drops are cool, a lot of my personal improvements were in meet anxiety management,” she said. “This season, (head) Coach Rachel (Komisarz-Baugh) did a fantastic job of helping me to gain confidence through mental training and preparation.

“We did a lot of visualization, positive self-talk and breathing and relaxation exercises to help me build a sense of calm in chaos.”

Although Zimcosky fell short of making the NCAA Championships, she is already mentally preparing for her future.

“Another thing that I am trying to work on is keeping the grand scheme of things or the big picture,” she said. “At the end of all of this, swimming doesn’t define who I am, and as a college athlete that can be very hard to remember.

“I am very grateful for all for the fun memories and wisdom that I experienced throughout and am excited to continue to grow not only in the sport but also as a person.”

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