Goeller reaches milestone in finale

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February 21, 2012

Dominick DiRienzo Meadville Tribune The Meadville Tribune Tue Feb 21, 2012, 11:50 PM EST

MEADVILLE — Allegheny’s Heidi Goeller hustled, dived and worked and got a bittersweet end to her career at Allegheny on Tuesday in the first round of the North Coast Athletic Conference playoffs at the Wise Center.

Goeller, a junior but playing her final season at Allegheny, hit a free throw for the 1,000th point of her career with 4:48 left in the game, but Wittenberg pounded Allegheny on the glass and was razor sharp from behind the arc to end the Gators’ season, 82-66.

Goeller had 23 points and five rebounds. She finishes her career with 1,002 points.

“This is a great honor, but I couldn’t have done it without my teammates,” Goeller said. “This honor is as much their honor as mine.”

The 6-foot forward from suburban Pittsburgh came to Allegheny knowing she would only be with the Gators for three seasons as part of a physician’s assistant program. She will spend the next two years at Chatham and will graduate with bachelor’s and master’s degrees.

“Heidi Goeller is the hardest worker I’ve ever coached,” Allegheny coach Kate Costanzo said. “She is very deserving of every honor. We are very sad to see her go, but she has a bright future. “She is a great role model on the court and in the classroom.”

She is the 12th woman in school history to pass the milestone and is 12th in all-time women’s scoring.

Goeller said she tried to cherish every game knowing that she only had three seasons, but said her time with the Gators still went too fast, including her final game.

She said she lingered in the locker room before emerging with hair wet from the shower and eyes wet with emotion to greet family, friends and her high school coach.

“I didn’t want to take off my uniform,” Goeller said. “I don’t want to give it back to coach. I might take it home. I might sleep in it.” It was the Gators, though, who looked drowsy at the start.

“We just came out back on our heels,” Goeller said.

Wittenberg opened the game with a 21-9 run and never looked back. The Tigers, who have won six of their last eight, out-rebounded Allegheny, 22-12, in the first half and hit 5-of-7 from behind the arc on its way to 41-30 halftime lead.

“We knew we would have to rebound to have a chance,” Kate Costanzo said. “We did not do a good job crashing the boards.”

The Tigers outscored 12-0 in second-chance points in the first half and 20-0 in the game. Allegheny had one offensive rebound in the game.

Allegheny shot 49 percent from the field in the game, but Wittenberg out-rebounded the Gators, 45-25, in the game. Those rebounds gave the Tigers 24 more shots from the floor than the Gators had.

Wittenberg coach Sarah Jurewicz said she made rebounding a point of emphasis coming into the game because the Tigers had struggled on the glass earlier in the season.

“We really focused on that because (Daryl Ford and Goeller) are great on the offensive boards,” Jurewicz said. “We really needed to attack the defensive glass.”

They succeeded in that and then compounded the damage by hitting clutch 3s.

“We didn’t challenge their threes,” Costanzo said.

During the opening run, Wittenberg was 4-of-5 from 3-point range.

The Gators (15-11) end the season with losses in six of their last eight games.

Wittenberg (14-11) advances to face top seed DePauw, which beat Oberlin, 76-38, last night. DePauw (24-1) is ranked fourth in the country. The semifinals are Friday.

Ford scored 16 points and pulled down seven rebounds, while freshman Kendall Hoffman and junior Ann Ryan both chipped in with nine points apiece.

Wittenberg’s Kim Replogle led the Tigers with 19 points and nine rebounds. Sarah Watson had 17 points and seven boards and freshman guard added four points and eight boards.

Notes: After the postgame lineup and handshake, Wittenberg players went behind the Allegheny bench to shake Erica Restich’s hand. Restich suffered a season-ending knee injury Feb. 11.

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