Penn State York basketball teams both reach PSUAC semifinals

Penn State York basketball closed a historic Monday night with a pair of postseason victories.

The Nittany Lion men’s and women’s basketball teams, both hosting PSUAC first-round playoff games for the first time in school history, each advanced to the conference semifinals with exciting home wins. The women opened Monday’s doubleheader in York with a 60-52 victory over Penn State Brandywine, while the men capped the evening with a 66-54 triumph against Penn State Schuylkill.

Penn State York will host Penn State Du Bois in the men’s semifinals at 7 p.m. Wednesday; Du Bois, the fourth seed from the PSUAC West, upset top-seeded PSU Mont Alto on Monday night. The PSY women will visit Penn State Beaver, the West Division champion, at the same time.

Wednesday’s winners will advance to the PSUAC championship games Saturday, March 2, at the Bryce Jordan Center in State College. The women’s final will tip off at 4:30 p.m. that day, with the men to follow at 7:15.

Monday roundup:Delone Catholic girls cruise into district final, set up rematch

High school playoffs:Dallastown girls' basketball surges into district final with win at Lebanon

More college hoops:York College's Grim named MAC Commonwealth Rookie of the Year in women's basketball

PSY’s women (now 19-10) held the East’s No. 2 seed via tiebreaker over Brandywine despite losing 69-68 when the teams met in York last Friday to close the regular season. The hosts led 13-4 after the first quarter Monday and never let up. Abigail McAlexander, a freshman from Northeastern, led the way with a season-high 20 points. Jayla Brown (New Oxford) and Desi Garcia-Hernandez, PSY’s leading scorers throughout the season, added 15 and 12, respectively.

The men (25-6) also took control of their quarterfinal clash early, taking a 32-18 lead into halftime and cruising to the finish. Quentin Wells led a balanced scoring effort with 15 points, while PSUAC all-time leading scorer Deriq Brown (New Oxford) had 12 and Kamrin Carroll added 12 off the bench. Penn State York’s men have now won seven straight and 12 of their last 13.

Both PSY teams dropped regular-season meetings against their semifinal opponents. The men fell 75-71 at Du Bois on Nov. 17 after committing 21 turnovers. The women lost 73-37 at home to PSU Beaver on Dec. 1 while shorthanded due to injuries.

The men’s team won the 2022 PSUAC tournament but had its postseason opportunity ripped away a year ago after the team was found to have an ineligible player. The women missed the playoffs in 2023 but are now in the conference semifinals for the second time in three seasons, an impressive turnaround from an eight-year postseason drought. 

Penn State York’s programs have taken different paths to this postseason, but both gave fans plenty to cheer for on Monday night.

SPARTAN STANDOUTS

York College senior and Dillsburg native Andrew Mott claimed the Spartans’ lone gold medal at the Middle Atlantic Conference indoor track and field championships over the weekend in Reading, breaking his own school record in the shot put with a throw of 16.76 meters on Saturday. Teammate Aidan Rollinson took second in Friday’s weight throw (17.00 meters) and Edwin Niemandt added a fourth-place finish in Saturday’s high jump. York finished eighth among 16 men’s teams at the championships.

The Spartan women placed 12th in a 14-team field, with their highest finish coming from the sixth-place 4x200 relay team of Natalie Cottrell (Dallastown), Keziah Boyce (Central York), Payton Mann and Angela Nuse. The freshman Nuse also finished seventh in the 60-meter dash, while Isabel Tenney joined the other three Spartans to take seventh in the 4x400 relay. York’s teams will close their indoor season in this weekend’s AARTFC Regional Championship at Nazareth College.

York freshman Maura White is the first national qualifier in the history of the women’s wrestling program, punching her ticket to the NCWWC National Championships with a second-place finish at 136 pounds at the Region I tournament Saturday in Lock Haven. She’ll compete in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on March 8 and 9.

The men’s and women’s swim teams wrapped their season at New York University’s Last Chance Meet, where York’s Alex Daniele won the men’s 100-meter backstroke (54.82) and Isabella Klemm won gold in the 100 breaststroke (1:05.33) for her 23rd individual victory of the season. Klemm also finished third in the 100 fly, while Collin Draminski (200 IM) and Grier Martin (100 back) won silver on the men’s side.

Heating up: Several of York’s spring sports begin their seasons this week. The No. 6-ranked women’s lacrosse team will open at home against Franklin & Marshall at 6 p.m. Wednesday, but the baseball team’s 3 p.m. visit to Catholic University (D.C.) that day was canceled.

The softball team took the field Monday in Claremont, California, and led 9-0 over Claremont-Mudd-Scripps before the game was canceled due to rain, wiping out the Spartans’ hot start. The Spartans are slated to return at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Whittier (Calif.) before doubleheaders Wednesday and Thursday.

Men’s lacrosse, meanwhile, is already three games into its season. The No. 10 Spartans handled Franklin & Marshall, 15-6, on the road Saturday thanks to four goals from junior Jackson Shields and a hat trick from freshman Jackson Hines. York will host No. 2 RIT this Saturday.

LOCAL IMPACTS

Chatham women’s basketball is a Presidents’ Athletic Conference champion for the first time, and Bermudian Springs graduate Hannah Chenault helped make it happen. The sophomore scored 17 points off the bench in the Cougars’ 77-50 win over Geneva on Saturday. Chatham (24-3) will play at Transylvania in the D-III opening round this Friday. Bermudan Springs’ Skyler West and Littlestown’s Celi Portillo are also on the Cougars’ roster, although neither saw action Saturday.

In Division II, Millersville’s Makiah Shaw (Red Lion) was named the PSAC East Defensive Athlete of the Week in women’s basketball after averaging two blocks, two steals and 7.5 rebounds (along with 17 points) in a pair of wins for the Marauders last week. Shaw, a junior, is also Millersville’s leading scorer with 13 ppg this season.

Shippensburg baseball’s Andrew Chronister (Dover) had an impressive Sunday in the Raiders’ doubleheader sweep of Pitt-Johnstown. Chronister had one of his team’s two hits in a 3-2 victory, then added a pair of knocks in Ship’s ensuing 8-4 victory. Through seven games, the junior is 9 for 25 (.360) with a double and two RBIs.

Holden Koons (Dallastown) continued his brilliant graduate season for Wake Forest men’s tennis on Monday, winning his singles and doubles matches as the No. 3 Demon Deacons beat No. 14 Georgia on the road. Koons, a James Madison transfer, is 9-0 in doubles and 9-2 in singles this spring. Wake Forest will visit No. 7 Virginia, the two-time defending national champion, at 3 p.m. Friday.