YOUNG EAGLES PLAYED HARD IN 2007

Despite not having a senior in the starting lineup, the 2007 Clarion University women’s basketball team came ever so close to qualifying for the PSAC Playoffs for the fourth time in the past six seasons.

The Golden Eagles finished a deceiving 9-17 overall and 4-8 in the PSAC-West, but came within gnat’s eyelash of finishing 15-11 overall and 8-4 in the PSAC-West. On the year, Clarion was outscored by a measly 1.1 points per game and lost six games, including four PSAC-West contests by six points or less. Turn those losses into wins, the PSAC Playoffs would have come calling. 

“We were close,” Clarion’s 18^th year head coach Gie Parsons said. “We showed we could play with some of the top teams in the nation, but we need to be more consistent. We had every part of the game but not on a constituent basis. Every component was there, and the next step we need to take is to make sure it is there every game.”

In addition to playing a bunch of close games, the Golden Eagles also played one of the toughest schedules in the nation with six games against four teams that qualified for the NCAA Division II national tournament including two against Sweet 16 participant IUP. Clarion held its own in those games going 2-4 while also losing three of the four games by a combined 17 points.

Two of Clarion’s biggest wins came against NCAA-bound teams with the Golden Eagles knocking off defending PSAC champion California Jan. 10 at Clarion and non-conference rival Pitt-Johnstown Dec. 6 also at Clarion.

“Those wins are things we can look at and use to let the players know we aren’t that far away,” Parsons said. “If they continue to play hard and practice hard we will be right with those teams. What we are doing is right; we just need to get it over the top.”

The win over California was especially big considering it broke the Vulcans 20-game PSAC-West wining streak while snapping a 23-game streak vs. PSAC-West opponents for Cal. Katrina Greer led the way in the game with 18 points, while Jessica Albanese added eight points and nine rebounds and April Gratton 17 points.

In the victory over UPJ, also a key game on the Clarion schedule, Albanese had a monster game with 18 points and 15 rebounds while My’Kea Cohill had 15 points and Greer 12 points.

Additional top wins on the season came over PSAC-East playoff bound Millersville (69-58 Jan. 13; 17 points from Cohill) and two over PSAC-West rival Slippery Rock (63-62 Jan. 31; 18 points from Greer and 76-74 Feb. 25, 17 points from Ashley Grimm).

Greer was rewarded for an outstanding sophomore season with a second-team PSAC-West selection by the league’s coaches. It marked the eighth straight year that Clarion has had an all-conference selection.

In 2007, Greer averaged 12.7 ppg (10^th in the PSAC-West, 17^th in the PSAC), while hitting a team-high 30 3-pointers and coming away with 38 steals and 35 assists. She raised her play in the 12 conference games averaging a team-high 13.9 ppg to go with 4.3 rpg in PSAC-West contests. Greer also finished third in the PSAC-West (7^th in PSAC) in free-throw percentage at 81.1 percent, the fifth highest mark in school history. Her top game came Jan. 14 at West Chester when she scored a career-high 23 points on 7 of 11 shooting and 7 of 10 from the free-throw line. She enters her junior season with 624 career points and 49 career 3-pointers. She is an 80.4 percent (205 of 255) career free-throw shooter, which is currently the third best mark in school history.

“Katrina really got it done on the floor,” Parsons said. “She was the most consistent scorer for us, and she was equally successful on the defense end. I think that was the key to her game. When her defense kicked in, the offense followed.”

Clarion has got key performances out of junior point guard Ashley Grimm and junior forward Jessica Albanese.

Grimm led the PSAC and was 24^th in the nation in assists per game (5.27) while dishing out 137 helpers, the fourth most in a season in school history. She finished the year by averaging 7.57 apg in her final seven contests and had 11 games of six or more helpers. Grimm added 6.8 ppg, including 10.7 ppg in her last six games, 3.7 rpg and 1.96 spg. This season she became the third player in school history to record 300 career assists and closed the year with 398 leaving her two shy of becoming the third player in school history to have 400. She needs nine helpers to tie Amy Migyanka (1996, 407 assists) for second in school history and 72 assists to tie the school record of 470 helpers held by Shelly Respecki (1991-92).

“Ashley did a great job at the end of the season,” Parsons said. “How she finished is where we want her to be, where we know she can be. She has been the general of the offense for the last three seasons, and when she started scoring more at the end of the season that just made her better. If she picked up where she left off, she has a chance to be a force next season. Her ability to score makers her a better passer.”

Albanese was Clarion’s leading scorer and rebounder this season averaging 13.5 ppg (6^th PSAC-West; 12^th PSAC) and 6.6 rpg (8^th PSAC-West; 15^th PSAC) while having the second-best shooting percentage in the PSAC and 12^th best in the nation at 56.1 percent. She also ranked 6^th in the PSAC-West and 11^th in the PSAC in free-throw shooting at 80.0 percent. “Kentucky”, as she is known to her teammates, is closing in on 1,000 career points and has 933 going into her senior season. She would be the 13^th player in school history to accomplish that feat. Jessica also has 509 career rebounds and is a 54 percent career shooter, which currently ranks fifth all-time in school history, and a 74.5 percent career free-throw shooter.

“We were really happy with the way Jessica played,” Parsons said. “She really carried us at the start of the season before other teams started to double (team) her. It took a while for the team to grow around her, but she was a solid player for us all season.”

The season also marked the end of Clarion careers for two players who are graduating – Jessica Skeggs and Michelle Johnson.

Skeggs was the lone senior, and she played in 16 games with one start and scored 10 points while grabbing six rebounds and dishing out eight assists. She finished her career with 42 points, 32 rebounds and 23 assists.

Johnson was the fourth-year junior after sitting out her freshman season. She played in six games with one start this year and scored six points. She finished her career with 29 points and 24 rebounds.

“Both Jessica and Michele were team players,” Parsons said. “They understood their roles, and where key for us in practice. They were both very loyal to the program.”  

A couple of juniors and four freshmen also played key supporting roles in 2007.

My’Kea Cohill, a junior transfer from Youngstown St., earned a spot in the starting lineup and finished the season third on the team with 10.2 ppg while adding 3.5 rpg and 2.15 apg. She scored a season-high 20 points at Lock Haven and scored 15 or more tallies seven times.

Gratton, another junior, started 14 games and scored 7.8 ppg while contributing 3.7 rpg. She tallied the season-high 17 points in the win over Cal. Her numbers in 2007 gave her 490 career points and 289 career rebounds.

Four freshmen also saw key minutes including red-shirt freshman Janelle Zabresky and true freshmen Bethany Koch, Sara Pratt and Katie Stover.

Zabresky, a forward coming off a knee injury, scored 70 points in 26 games while adding 3.3 rpg. She had a season-high 7 points and 10 rebounds vs. Georgian Court.

Koch provided a spark off the bench at the guard position for the Golden Eagles and averaged 2.6 ppg and 1.8 rpg. She recorded a double-double (10 points, 11 rebounds) in a win over Kutztown Jan. 7.

Pratt started 13 games in the post and averaged 3.3 ppg and 3.5 rpg. She scored 10 points at Edinboro and had eight rebounds at Mansfield.

Stover, a forward, played in 18 games and scored 31 points while grabbing 46 rebounds. She had eight points at Bloomsburg and six rebounds twice.

Also contributing for the Golden Eagles was sophomore Leah Shrift (1.4 ppg, 1.1 rpg; season-high 5 points twice).

GOLDEN EAGLE NOTES – Parsons is the winningest coach in school history with an 18-year record of 270-229. In 26 years as a head coach, Parsons is 380-302. She took Clarion on an unbelievable run from 1991-95 during which time the Eagles won five straight PSAC-West titles while qualifying for the NCAA Playoffs in each of those season. Clarion won PSAC titles in 1991, 1993 and 1994 and reached the NCAA D-II “Elite Eight” in 1991 and 1994 while sporting a 117-33 overall mark and a 50-10 PSAC-West record. Overall, Parsons has taken Clarion to six NCAA D-II tournaments with the Golden Eagles also making the tournament in 2005 (23-7).