Westmoreland Campus Clippings: Latrobe's Biss hits 1,000 points at Shippensburg

Junior point guard Jake Biss became the 34th player in Shippensburg men’s basketball history to reach 1,000 career points.

The former Latrobe standout played a brow-raising 50 minutes in Saturday’s 104-103 double-overtime loss to Lock Haven. He added four rebounds and two assists for the Raiders (20-5, 16-3 PSAC).

In the previous game, Biss also scored 21 points, 16 in the first half, with four 3-pointers and five assists in an 87-66 win over Millersville.

The victory clinched the PSAC East Division. It also secured its fifth 20-win season under coach Chris Fite, another Latrobe alum. The Raiders are 116-32 under Fite.

Men’s basketball

Grove City: Junior Justice Rice (Monessen) had 12 points and four assists as the Wolverines (16-7, 12-2 PAC) won their 12th game in a row, 60-57 over Thiel.

Rice had 17 points in a 78-68 victory over Penn State Altoona.

Pitt-Greensburg: The Bobcats registered their 20th win of the season, the first time they have done that since the 1999-2000 season, with a 79-62 victory over Alfred State. UPG (20-4, 16-3 AMCC) also moved to 12-0 at home.

Sophomore JoJo France had 15 points, senior Cody Spaid added 12 and eight rebounds, sophomore Torian Jenkins scored 11 and junior Cam Seigfreid had 10.

France made six 3-pointers and finished with 19 points, while Seigfreid added 15 points in a 60-54 win over Mt. Aloysius.

Women’s basketball

Grove City: Sophomore Allison Podkul (Hempfield) had 11 points and nine bounds for GCC (21-2, 12-2) in a 90-47 win over Thiel. The Wolverines tied the program mark for regular-season wins.

La Roche: Senior forward Jenna Cole (Norwin) had 20 points and six rebounds in an 81-55 win over Franciscan. She added 13 points and nine rebounds in a 70-63 loss to Hilbert.

Pitt-Greensburg: Junior Nadege Durand became the 13th player in program history to score 1,000 career points as UPG (16-8, 14-5 AMCC) downed Alfred State, 81-60. Durand had 19 points, and junior Maddy Coddington (Greensburg Central Catholic) had 12.

Point Park: Junior guard Michelle Burns (Hempfield) scored 29 points, but the Pioneers fell to Rio Grande, 95-89.

Saint Vincent: Junior guard Madison Kollar (Latrobe) poured in a career-high 41 points, three shy of a school record 44 set by Lisa Heuer in 1988, as the Bearcats (17-6, 13-1 PAC) topped Waynesburg, 103-87. Kollar made 18 of 23 shots from the field in just 26 minutes. The performance earned her PAC Player of the Week honors.

Westmoreland County Community College: The Wolfpack rallied late but came up short in the WPCC championship game, falling to Butler County Community College, 43-36. Sophomore forward Mackenzie Markle (Latrobe) had 14 points and 10 rebounds, and junior Hannah Hempfield (Mt. Pleasant) added nine points, nine rebounds and six steals.

Wrestling

Ohio State: Senior Luke Pletcher (Latrobe), the top-ranked 141-pounder in NCAA Division I, was dealt his first loss of the season as he fell to No. 2 Nick Lee of Penn State, 8-4. the second-ranked Nittany Lions edged the No. 16 Buckeyes, 20-16.

Pitt: Redshirt sophomore Micky Phillippi (Derry) posted a shutout at 133 pounds for his 22nd win of the season as Pitt fell to No. 8 North Carolina, 22-14.

Pitt-Johnstown: Senior Chris Eddins (Greensburg Salem), the top-ranked 149-pounder in NCAA Division II, posted his 100th career win — the 25th wrestler to reach the milestone at UPJ — in a 21-10 win over Gannon.

Men’s golf

Pitt-Greensburg: UPG hired Joshua Bartley as coach. A former standout at IUP, Bartley won the 2017 PSAC individual title and received first-team all-conference honors.

He also picked up PING All-Atlantic Region accolades and was voted IUP Men’s Postseason Performer of the Year.

Bartley played in 15 pro tournaments on the Swingthought and Gpro mini-tours. He was an assistant pro at John’s Island Club in Vero Beach, Fla.

West Virginia: Junior Mark Goetz (Greensburg/The Kiski School) posted rounds of 72, 75 and 1-under-par 69 to finish at 6-over 216 and in a tie for 31st place at the Florida Gators Invitational.

Women’s bowling

Pitt-Greensburg: Amanda Balas was named coach of the new bowling team, which will play an independent schedule in 2020-21 and plans to join the AMCC the following year. Balas was an accomplished bowler at Division-I St. Francis (Pa.) after honing her skills at Penn-Trafford.

Women’s bowling is the 13th sport, seventh on the women’s side, at UPG.