Women’s Basketball wins Conference Championship, first time in School History
Photo Credit: Cardinals' Athletic Site
Katerina Owunna, Landmark Conference Player of the Week, had a standout playoff performance averaging 17 points and 11.5 rebounds.
Alexis Carlucci, Staff
February 29, 2012
Filed under Sports
The Catholic University women’s basketball team played Juniata College on Saturday February 25th for the Landmark Conference Championship, and won 79-69. This was the first time that the women’s basketball team had ever won a Landmark Conference Championship in school history, as well as the first on the road playoff win in school history.
This win was a huge comeback for the Cardinals because they had previously lost to Juniata on January 14th, and on February 10th. During their first match against Juniata they lost 60-70. Their second match against Juniata was much closer, losing 52-55. Jill Woerner led the Cardinals in the first game, scoring 18 points. Katerina Owunna led the Cardinals during the second game with 15 points.
After the huge win, the Cardinals are headed to Ohio for the Division III NCAA tournament where they will play Muhlenberg College. Currently the Cardinals are 22-5 on the season, and 11-3 in the Landmark.
Catholic leading scorers included Woerner with 23 points, and Owunna with 22 points. Emily Grabiak and Kelli Josephson also hit double figures with 15 and 11 points respectfully. Owunna and Josephson led the defense with 12 and 10 rebounds apiece. Grabiak led the team in assists with eight. Owunna had a double-double, and also was 10-14 from the field shooting 71 percent. Woerner was 8-14, shooting 57 percent from the field.
The Cardinals started off on the right foot, scoring first in the match. They led the game for the entire first half, with the biggest margin being 11 points. They were 17 for 31 during the first half with a 54.8 field goal percentage. They were also 5-6 from the free throw line, shooting 83.3 percent. Juniata shot 36.7 percent from the field making 11-30 field goals.
The second half was similar to the first, and Catholic never gave up the lead. The closest that Juniata got to the Cardinals was within three points, but Catholic shut them down. Catholic’s biggest lead of the game was during the second half. They were up by a margin of 13 points. Juniata shot 33.3 percent from the field, sinking 13 of 39 shots.
Besides the big win during the Landmark Conference championship, Owunna was also named Landmark Conference Player of the Week for her performance during the Landmark tournament. She averaged 17 points on 58 percent shooting while averaging 11.5 rebounds during the Cardinals two tournament wins.
In the Cardinals semifinal win against the University of Scranton 47-40, she had a double-double, scoring 12 points and grabbing 11 rebounds. For the season she is averaging 10.2 points and 8.2 rebounds. She also leads the team in blocks with a total of 46.
The Cardinals face Muhlenberg College this upcoming Friday at 5pm at the University of Mount Union located in Alliance, Ohio. Muhlenberg defeated Johns Hopkins University 74-53. They are 22-5, and are led in scoring by Alexandra Chili and Alita Zabrecky. Chili is averaging 17.4 points per game, and Zabrecky is averaging 15.0 points per game.
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