Penn College women hope for deep playoff run

The Pennsylvania College of Technology women’s basketball team rides a four-game win streak into the United East playoffs and coach Britni Mohney believes it is peaking at just the right time.

Seeded fourth, Penn College will host either fifth-seeded Bryn Athyn or 12th-seeded Cedar Crest College in a 1 p.m. Saturday quarterfinal game, pending the outcome of the Bryn Athyn/Cedar Crest first-round contest on Wednesday night.

“Our team put together a strong regular season, showing resilience and consistency throughout. The chemistry has been building, and we’ve seen improvements on both ends of the floor. A few rough patches on the road tested us, but we finished strong, peaking at the right time,” Mohney said.

The Wildcats’ records of 15-10 and 12-4 in the conference are its best since the NCAA era began in 2014. In addition to the current win streak, the team had two five-game win streaks earlier this season.

“The one big difference from previous seasons to this season is our winning mentality. We’ve learned how to win, which is really hard to do,” Mohney said. “We’ve won several close games this year, proving that we can handle late-game pressure situations. That mentality is going to be something we need to carry into postseason play.  

“We are looking to take this one game at a time. We know moving forward we will be facing the winner of Bryn Athyn and Cedar Crest. We’ve seen Cedar Crest in the regular season, going 2-0, with our last regular season game being against them, so they are fresh in our minds. We are beginning to scout Bryn Athyn, knowing that they are a defensive-minded team, the only team ahead of us in the conference holding teams to 47.8 points per game. What we know is that against defensive-minded teams, we have to make every possession count."

Bryn Athyn averages 65.4 ppg on offense to Penn College’s 60.6 and Cedar Crest’s 55.7. On defense, Penn College is allowing 55.9 ppg overall and Cedar Crest 58.5.

Leading the Wildcats have been Gigi Parlante of Williamsport, with scoring and rebounding averages of 15.3 and 10.9, respectively, Rachel Teats of Middleburg (11.4-6.3) and Lexi Troup of Huntingdon (10.8-4.6).

Bryn Athyn’s scoring leaders are Zhymani Smith (18.2) and Alayna Day (11.1). The team’s rebounding leaders are Alexa Osafo-Mensah (8.2 rpg) and Xion Spence (8.0 rpg).

Cedar Crest’s leaders are Caylie Long (18.3-8.3) and Rachel Bilger (12.3-6.9)

“We have to focus on us and our strengths. We get to open our postseason at home, where we have been dominant at protecting our house, going 10-1 this season. We need to continue to maintain our offensive and defensive balance, continue to be strong on the boards and dictate defensively,” Mohney said.

“Momentum is everything in the playoffs, and we’re coming in hot with a four-game winning streak. The confidence is high, rotations are clicking, and our key players are stepping up. With standout players like Parlante, Teats and Troup leading the way, our team has the talent to compete with anyone,” Mohney said.

“Our defensive toughness and rebounding ability are going to be key factors in our playoff success,” Mohney continued. “We have been holding opponents to 50.8 ppg in conference play, which ranks us second. We also have been shooting our best percentage from the field and have increased our scoring average since last season, scoring 64.4 ppg (sixth in conference) at 43.9% (second in conference).  If we continue to execute, stay disciplined, and play to our strengths, we can make a deep run.

“Since the beginning of the season, we have preached the habits and tendencies of championships programs. Championship programs do the little things; championship programs have unconditional love and respect, championship programs stay in the huddle, championship programs have championship behaviors, and championship programs want one more. They want one more practice, they want one more home game, they want one more bus ride, they want one more opportunity to play with this team. They want one more opportunity to showcase why Penn College women’s basketball is here to make history.”

Other Wednesday first-round games have sixth-seeded Penn State Harrisburg hosting 11th-seeded Lancaster Bible College, seventh-seeded Notre Dame (Md.) University hosting 10th-seeded Wilson College and eighth-seeded St. Elizabeth University hosting ninth-seeded Keystone College.

In Saturday’s other quarterfinals, top-seeded St. Mary’s (Md.) College hosts the eight/nine winner, second-seeded Penn State Abington hosts the seven/10 winner and third-seeded Gallaudet University hosts the six/11 winner.

Final UE regular-season standings (overall records entering playoffs in parentheses): St. Mary’s (Md.) 16-1 (18-7), Penn State Abington 13-3 (17-7), Gallaudet University 12-4 (15-10), Penn College 12-4 (15-10), Bryn Athyn 12-4 (19-6), Penn State Harrisburg 11-5 (11-5), Notre Dame (Md.) University 11-5 (13-12), St. Elizabeth University 10-6 (14-11), Keystone College 10-6 (16-9), Wilson College 9-7 (10-15), Lancaster Bible College 7-9 (10-14), Cedar Crest College 6-10 (8-11), Valley Forge 3-13 (4-20), Rosemont College 2-14 (2-23), Penn State Berks 2-14 (3-20), Penn State Brandywine 1-15 (2-22), Cairn University 0-16 (1-21).

Schedule/Record/Series History
Overall: 15-10
UE: 12-4
Saturday, Feb. 22 — United East Quarterfinal vs. winner of Wednesday’s game between Bryn Athyn and Cedar Crest, 1 p.m. (Penn College leads Cedar Crest 2-0 lifetime) (Bryn Athyn leads Penn College 5-2 lifetime)
Tuesday, Feb. 25 — UE Semifinals, TBA
Saturday, March 1 — UE Championship, TBA

For additional information, visit the Wildcats Athletics website.
For more about the United East, visit the conference website.