While many college students often think of spring break as a time to not do homework and to relax, the women’s basketball team traveled to Petersburg, Virginia for the USCAA National Championship, where they had an incredible run. The Pomeroys were seeded number five in the tournament. In his second year, Scot MacAllister was thrilled by the team’s effort, given their covid-impacted season last year leaving them with a record of 0-9.
Prior to the tournament, seven student-athletes from the men’s and women’s basketball teams received awards during the USCAA banquet.
USCAA All-Academic
Allyson Hardiek
Brooke Andrus
Avalee Jeffers
Lexi Baver
USCAA All-American Honorable mention
Allyson Hardiek
Elkin Ramirez-Vazquez
USCAA All-American 2nd Team
Sydney Ingram
Jadyn McHugh
In addition, Avalee Jeffers was named the 2022 USCAA Women’s Basketball Student-Athlete of the Year!
The Pomeroys played their first game on Monday, March 7 against Bryant & Stratton-Syracuse. The team struggled some in the first half and was down by 21 points at half-time. They came out in the second half, determined that this was their game and overcame the deficit to win 73-66.
The Pomeroys kept their spirits high as they faced number one seeded Clinton College on Wednesday. It was a hard-fought game and the Pomeroys came out strong, leading at halftime 42-24. They held on to win 76-66, putting them in the National Championship game for the first time in College history.
SMWC took on the number three seed, the D’Youville College Saints. The team played strong in the first half, leading at halftime 31-25. The Pomeroys could not hold onto the lead and fell short to the Saints at the end, 63-56.
In the championship game, the Pomeroys were led by Destiny Thomas with 10 points and five rebounds, followed by Sydney Ingram with 10 points and three rebounds. Allyson Hardiek led all players with 15 rebounds.
For the Saints, the free throw shooting of Sara Pfeiffer, who was 15-16 from the charity stripe, was the difference. She had a total of 28 points with Anna Jankovic scoring 10 points and nine rebounds and Riley Riedel scored nine points with 10 rebounds.
“Obviously it was not the outcome that we wanted but I think we preached for everybody play their hearts out and left it all out on the floor and we have no regrets. I’m just so proud of our team today,” stated Sydney Ingram, number 5 for the SMWC Pomeroys.
With an incredible fight, the Pomeroys finished as the USCAA National Championship runner-up, for the first time in the College’s program history. Coach MacAllister was beyond proud of the team.
“I’m just really proud of them and how far they’ve come. You always get a team and you just love them to death and you remember their names and I told them that I’d remember their names forever,” MacAllister said.
The Pomeroys are now looking forward to next season with high hopes for the program after their runner-up finish.
“Like Sydney [Ingram] said our outcome wasn’t what we wanted but those types of things just make us want to work harder for next year,” stated Avalee Jeffers.