Jr., Heather Cigich

Jr., Shay Godwin

Sr., Lindsay Kostorick

Sr., Holly Evanov

2004 A SUCCESS FOR CLARION GOLDEN EAGLES

In 2004, 15^th year head coach Margaret “Gie’ Parsons guided the Clarion University women’s basketball team to a very successful season that saw the Golden Eagles finish in a tie for second place in the PSAC-West, its highest finish since 1995 while also qualifying for the PSAC Playoffs for the second time in three years.

            The Golden Eagles finished the year 15-12 overall and 7-5 in the PSAC-West tied with Shippensburg behind only national champion California. The 15 wins matched Clarion’s win total from a year ago, and the seven PSAC-West wins were the most since the team went 9-3 and won the PSAC-West in 1995.

            “It was a good season,” Clarion’s 15^th-year head coach Margaret “Gie” Parsons said. “We finished very strong and played well down the stretch. As I like to tell people, we were second in the conference to No. 1 in the nation. That says a lot. But we also know we have work to do if we want to get back to the championship level we enjoyed in the 1990’s.”

            Clarion won five straight PSAC-West titles, three PSAC titles and qualified for two NCAA Division II “Elite Eights” during a five-year stretch from 1991-1995.

            The Golden Eagles once again compiled their winning record against one of the toughest schedules in the nation playing six games against five teams who qualified for the NCAA Division II tournament including two against national champion California. Clarion went a respectable 2-4 in those games with wins over Ashland and West Liberty, a four-point loss to Shaw and a 10-point loss to Pitt-Johnstown. Clarion also played Cal strong in the game at Clarion leading at halftime, one of the few teams to do that all season, and by five with 18 minutes to play before falling 83-69.

            “Playing a schedule like that prepares us for the conference schedule and for the postseason,” Parsons said. “It allowed us to see how good we could be and what we needed to do to improve.”

EAGLES START SEASON 7-3

Clarion’s season could really be broken into three distinct parts: a quick start, a downturn in the middle and an amazing finish.

The Golden Eagles started the year fast winning seven of their first 10 games including the wins over Ashland (65-54) and West Liberty (89-81) with Cigich have monster games against West Liberty with 31 points and 14 rebounds. Cigich also hit a personal milestone during that stretch becoming the 12^th player in Clarion history to go over 1,000 career points when she reached the mark with 19 points in a 75-41 win over the Albany College of Pharmacy at the Ocean City (MD) Tournament over the Christmas break. The mayor of Ocean City really took to her achievement presenting her with a key to the city for reaching her milestone.

Following the quick start, however, Clarion hit a rough patch in the season dropping eight of its next 11 to leave it record at 10-11 overall and 2-5 in the PSAC-West.

CLARION CLOSES REGULAR SEASON WITH FIVE STRAIGHT WINS

But things were just about to pick up for the Golden Eagles, as they took flight in mid-February winning their last five regular-season games to finish the conference season at 7-5, tied for second with Shippensburg and in the PSAC Playoffs.

“The five-game winning streak at the end of the season is what I am most proud about this season,” Parsons said. “You could see the players were buying what we were selling and believing in themselves. We surprised everyone, and it gave us the conviction that we can do anything next year.”

Cigich was the catalyst to the turnaround, averaging 23.6 ppg and 15.8 rpg during the five-game winning streak including 21 points and 21 rebounds in the streak starting 54-39 win over IUP on Valentine’s Day.

Cigich then followed with 22 points and 16 boards in a 57-42 win over Slippery Rock, and Amelia Harris had 21 points in a 68-62 win over Lock Haven to bring Clarion’s PSAC-West mark to 5-5.

The Golden Eagles then toppled Edinboro 78-62 to clinch a playoff spot on what became an historic night. Cigich scored 31 points while collecting 17 rebounds, and Shay Godwin had 30 points and nine rebounds making them the first Clarion teammates to each score 30 points in the same game.

Clarion then closed the regular season by clinching a share of second place with a thrilling 66-62 win at Shippensburg behind 25 points and 10 rebounds from Cigich.

The Golden Eagles season ended in the first round of the PSAC Playoffs with a 65-36 loss at Shippensburg.

 “The season might not have ended like we had wanted it to,” Parsons said. “But all that does is make us hungrier for next season. We saw what we have the potential to do, and with some hard work we can accomplish even more next season.”

CIGICH; GODWIN FORM FORMIDABLE INSIDE PUNCH

            A lot of Clarion’s success this season came thanks to one of the best inside duos in the country in junior forwards Heather Cigich and Shay Godwin. The two combined to average 35.6 ppg and 23.3 rpg and ranked 1-2 in the PSAC in rebounding and 1-7 in scoring.

            Cigich led the PSAC in both scoring (20.0 ppg) and rebounding (12.1 rpg) while ranking fourth in the nation in rebounding and 15^th in the country in scoring. She was also second in the PSAC and 41^st in the nation in steals (3.1 spg), fourth in the PSAC in blocks (1.1 bpg) and seventh in the PSAC in shooting percentage (51.9 percent).

            Godwin, meanwhile, ranked second in the PSAC in rebounding (11.2 rpg) and seventh in scoring (15.6 ppg) while also ranking 11^th in the nation in rebounding.

 “I can’t put into words what Heather and Shay meant to us this season,” Parsons said. “They were probably the most formidable inside duo in Division II. They were the heart and soul of the team. They complimented each other extremely well.”

CIGICH NAMED ALL-CONFERENCE, ALL-REGION; ALL-AMERICA

            Cigich, who added 2.5 apg, was rewarded for her great season by garnering two All-America awards, an All-Region award and an all-conference honor.

            She was named an Honorable Mention WBCA/Kodak All-America, a DII Bulletin Honorable Mention All-America, a first-team Daktronics All-Region and a first-team PSAC-West selection.

            For her career, Cigich currently stands No. 1 in school history in points per game (16.9) while averaging a career double-double with 10.6 rpg. She is fifth all-time in scoring at Clarion (1,355), third in rebounding (850), third in blocks (63) and seventh in steals (187).

            “Heather really worked hard to improve her game from last season to this season,” Parsons said. “She made great improvements between her sophomore and junior years, and we look forward to even better things her senior season.”

GODWIN NAMED FIRST-TEAM ALL-CONFERENCE

            Godwin was also rewarded for her solid season with a first-team PSAC-West selection. In addition to her scoring and rebounding, she finished eighth in the PSAC in shooting (51.9 percent) and first in offensive rebounds per game (4.16).

            “Shay really solidified what we were trying to do,” Parsons said. “She hadn’t played for a while, and she got better and better as the season went on. The team really jelled and really started playing well when she got some of the rust off her game.”

KOSTORICK, EVANOV FINISH CAREERS

            Two senior guards concluded their Clarion careers including Lindsay Kostorick and Holly Evanov.

            Kostorick was a four-year contributor for the Golden Eagles who started 31 career games including 15 this season. She was the 10^th leading assist giver in the PSAC this year with 4.04 apg and her 109 total assists ties for the eighth most in a single season at Clarion. She also averaged 2.7 ppg. In her career, she scored 179 points, had 119 steals, 137 rebounds and 205 assists.

            “Lindsay is a four-year player who improved every tear with hard work and eventually moved into the starting lineup this season,” Parsons said. “She is one of the most coachable players I have ever had. She is a great team player.”

            Evanov came to Clarion this season from Shippensburg, and despite not being on the team at the start of fall practice ended up moving into the starting lineup by the end of the season. On the year, she averaged 2.1 ppg and 2.0 apg.

            “Holly was also a very coachable player,” Parsons said. “She didn’t join the team until after the season had started, but she worked very hard and caught on to what we were doing very fast. She is a very smart young lady. She wanted to contribute, and she had the desire to help us. She did that this season.”

HARRIS LEADS SOLID GROUP OF UNDERCLASSMEN

            Junior guard Amelia Harris led a solid group of underclassmen for the Golden Eagles averaging 11.6 ppg, 5.2 rpg and 1.6 spg while hitting 62 three-pointers and shooting 39 percent from three-point land. She ranked third in the PSAC and 35^th in the nation in three-point percentage and third in the conference and 43^rd in the nation in three-pointers made per game (2.3).

            Addition key underclassmen included junior guards Tiffany Peacock (10.3 ppg, 2.3 apg) and Angela Phegley (4.4 ppg, 2.96 apg), junior center Danielle Moseley (2.4 ppg, 3.0 rpg) and freshman Shelah Bolyard (1.4 ppg, 1.1 rpg) and Jessica Skeggs (0.8 ppg, 1.0 rpg).