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until Ackerman knocked a pair of foul shots on two occasions to cut the Thomas More lead down to three points at 2:25 (59-56) and 1:35 (61-58). The Titans later had possession and down by four points with 1:10 left, but Marszalek missed a lay-up with 53 ticks on the clock. Westminster was forced to foul and the Saints induced missed shots by Marszalek and Ackerman and a turnover with nine seconds left to seal the win. Thomas More shot 46.2 percent (24-52) from the field and Westminster shot 40 percent (20-50). The Titans also held a 36-26 rebounding advantage.
Thomas More Downs Westminster Titans 95-77 in PAC QuarterfinalsTitans Finish 7-19 on the season
NEW WILMINGTON -- During the regular season, Westminster and Thomas More split their pair of games, each team winning on their home court.
Hosting the Saints in the quarterfinal round of the PAC championships, the Titans were hoping that history would repeat itself. However, Tuesday night at Buzz Ridl Gymnasium, the Saints (11-15) turned the tables on the Titans as they jumped out early and held them off for a 95-77 win. "That (falling behind early) happened to us in our last four games," said Westminster coach Larry Ondako. "Somehow, we were able to come back and win the other ones. Realistically, this is what should happen when you jump on top like they did. They just came out with a lot more energy than we did and I am not sure why." Seventy seconds into the game, the Titans held a 3-2 lead on a 3 by Chauncey Whitlow.
However, that was the only lead Westminster (7-19) had in the game as Thomas More went on a 15-3 run to lead by 17-6 before they stretched it to 36-19 with seven minutes left in the half. Westminster cut their deficit back to single digits (38-30) before the Saints again went up by double digits at 47-36 at halftime. Facing the 11-point deficit, the Titans got back to within five on a pair of 3s by Dave Richards and one by Craig Hannon, but again the Saints had an answer by tallying eight unanswered points to stretch their advantage back to double digits. "They did a good job keeping us from going on a big run," said Ondako. "We would get it back to six or eight and when that happened, I think our guys felt that was something they had accomplished. Unfortunately, it wasn't (coming back) the whole way and they would string it back out to 12 or 13. They are a good basketball team and it wouldn't surprise me if they win it all."
When you have a pair of 5-7 teams facing each other, anything can happen. "I told some people last night that it wouldn't surprise me if we won the game by 10 or lose it by 20," said Ondako. "This game tonight just seemed to be the way things went in this league this year."
If there were two areas that hurt the Titans in the loss, it was the transition game set up by offensive rebounding and turnovers. For the game, Thomas More outrebounded the Titans by a 35-22 margin, 13 of their 35 boards coming off the offensive glass, while the Titans turned the ball over 18 times compared to just six for the Saints. "We just had too many turnovers," said Ondako. "They probably scored at least 10 points in the first half on just straight turnovers that gave them breakaway layups. We just didn't do a very good job in those two areas." For the Titans, it was the end of line for seniors Craig Hannon (Union), Chauncey Whitlow (Youngstown, Wilson) and Jake Zatchok (Western Reserve). "They (the seniors) are just a great group of guys," praised Ondako. "There is nothing that can destroy a team quicker than a bad group of seniors and with only seven wins, they didn't let that happen. They are the first group of guys I recruited and they had really, really good careers. I am very proud of them."For Westminster, Hannon led the way with 31 points in his final game as a Titan. During his outstanding performance, the Union product was 10-of-12 from the field and a perfect 7-of-7 from the free throw line.
"We (the seniors) are best friends and will be that for the rest of our lives after the season we just went through," said Hannon. "I think the three of us kept this team together when it could have easily fallen apart. We feel like we were the glue to this team and we tried our best to hold it together. We fell short of some of our goals, but I will always remember this team for the determinatino and fight we had." Joining Hannon in doubles was Ryne Murray with a dozen points, while Brady Sherrib chipped in with 10. For Thomas More, Matty Owens led a quintet of double-digit scorers with 17 points.

By Bill Albright

NEW WILMINGTON -- The Westminster Titans were hoping the third time wouldn't be a charm for Chatham College. Having already defeated the Cougars twice during the regular season, the Titans completed the hat trick Tuesday night in the quarterfinal round of the PAC playoffs with a 61-41 victory. With the result, Chatman ends its initial season in the PAC at 10-16, while the Titans move to 16-10 and will face Washington & Jefferson in the semifinal round. That game is slated for 6 p.m., Friday at Thomas More. "I told my girls that this game would probably be the hardest on they played all season," said Westminster coach Rosanne Scott. "It is the play-in game, we had just faced them and every year, this game is always a battle. We know them and they know us and what it comes down to is executing a game plan." Although his team lost by 20 points, Chatham coach Mark Katarksi likes what he saw from his young squad. "For 20 minutes, we did what we wanted to do," said Katarski, "Our kids had an energy level to match the playoff level and I thought we defended very well for 20 minutes." The Titans sprinted out to a 9-3 lead in the first three minutes of the game and led by as many as eight (17-9) on seven straight points from Emilee Ackerman. However, Chatham kept hanging around until their cut the Titan lead to four points (25-21) at halftime.  "I was happy with the way we remained poised," said Scott. "We were missing some layups in the first half that could have really helped us, but they stayed poised. Our leaders on this team have been in that position before and that really helped us." Holding onto the 4-point lead halfway through the contest, the Titans gave themselves some breathing room as they opened the second half with a 9-2 run

to lead by 11. But as they had done before, the Cougars (10-16) battled back to get to within four before the Titans ripped the game open with a 16-2 run. "At halftime I switched from what we were doing offensively and I think that really helped us in that run," explained Scott. "Once we realized exactly what defense they (Chatham) were playing, we went to some different looks. Things really started working for us and that is why we were able to get out to the big lead." Giving credit where credit is due, Katarski had some good things to say about Ackerman. "They (Westminster) did what good teams do," said Katarski. "Emilee (Ackerman) is just amazing. We tried to recruit her when I was a Pitt-Greensburg. She does a lot of good things and I think her teammates feed off of her. What it came down to is that they deserved to win in the second half. We didn't really lose it, but rather they played well enough to win it." Leading the Titans (16-10) to the win was Ackerman with 25 points and 10 rebounds. Joining the Titan senior with am outstanding game was Amy Dolsak (McDonald) with 19 points and five boards. Teresa Marszalek also enjoyed a good all-around game with seven points, 10 rebounds, assists and a blocked shot. For Chatham, Kayla Hilko led the way with 13 points, Hilko joined in double figures by Barb Petty with 10 points.
Following the Lady Titans decisive win over Chatham in the quarterfinals, they put together one of their better overall efforts of the season to upset second-seeded Washington & Jefferson by an 82-77 final in overtime in the semifinals. Highlighting the victory was the record-breaking effort of Westminster's outstanding senior Emilee Ackerman as she because the school's all-time leading scorer with 36 points. Ackerman scored a game-high 36 points on 9-17 shooting from the field and 16-16 shooting from the foul line, giving her 1,462 career points. Former teammate Desiree Sterling previously held the record of 1,451 from 2004-07. The nation's third-leading scorer entering the week with 23.1 points per game, Ackerman was also named first-team all-PAC during a ceremony Friday night between the two semifinal games. Junior Gina Brunetti (Canfield, Ohio/Cardinal Mooney) also received an honorable mention for the all-PAC team.  Brunetti, who has averaged 9.3 points per game this season, followed Ackerman in the scoring column in the win over the Presidents with 13 points, while senior forward Terese Marszalek (Monroeville, Pa./Gateway) scored 12 and sophomore guard/forward Amy Dolsak (McDonald, Ohio/McDonald) chipped in with 10 points. Ackerman grabbed a team-high nine rebounds, followed by Marszalek with eight and Brunetti with six. After the teams were tied, 29-29, at halftime, Washington & Jefferson held its largest lead of the second half with an eight-point, 56-48 cushion with 6:26 remaining in the game. The Titans slowly came back and tied the game with 1:51 left on a pair of Ackerman foul shots.  Westminster freshman guard Kaitlin McCarthy (Lowellville, Ohio/Lowellville) later sank a pair of free throws with eight seconds left to tie the game once again for the Titans, before Smith missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer.  Brunetti hit a key 3-pointer to put the Titans up by three in overtime and Westminster never trailed the rest of the game. The Titans made all eight of their final free throws, including six by Ackerman For the second straight year, the Titans (17-10) advanced to the PAC championship game to play top-seeded Thomas More. The Titans lost to the Saints in last year's championship game, 59-50. The Saints (26-0), ranked third in the nation this year, were coming off a 75-27 semifinal win over Grove City on Friday. In their rematch with Thomas More, the Lady Titans came up just shy at Thomas More championship game. The Titans, the four seed in the tournament, lost 65-58 against the defending champion and top-seeded Saints, who are ranked No. 3 in the nation with a 28-0 record. Westminster finishes its season with a 17-11 record after losing to the Saints in the PAC finals for a second straight year. In the loss to Thomas More, Ackerman, the nation's third-leading scorer (23.6 ppg) playing in her final college game, led the Titans with 21 points while tying a career high with 13 rebounds. As the school's all-time leading scorer, Ackerman finishes her career with 1,483 points. Senior forward Terese Marszalek (Monroeville, Pa./Gateway), also playing in her final game, bucketed 11 points for Westminster, while freshman guard Kaitlin McCarthy (Lowellville, Ohio/Lowellville) scored eight points to go with eight rebounds. Thomas More held a 35-28 halftime lead and extended the margin to 12 points (45-33) with 16:12 to go in the second half. The Titans slowly whittled the lead down to five points, capped off by Marszalek hitting a jumper with 9:21 remaining to make the score 54-47.
The Saints would go back up by as many as eight points