Former Park star leads Findlay past Wheeling Jesuit,
Gompers Ties School Record

By NICK BEDWAY

Wheeling, WV, Nov. 16, 2009 - Maggie Gompers' final trip home as a collegiate basketball player resulted in something to remember for the large delegation of family and friends seated behind the Findlay University bench Monday night at Wheeling Jesuit University's Alma Grace McDonough Center.

The former Wheeling Park High School standout tied Findlay's school record for 3-pointers in a single game with seven as the Oilers concluded a successful two-day visit to the Ohio Valley by routing Wheeling Jesuit, 101-62, in the Cardinals' season-opening Tip-Off Classic.

Gompers tallied 21 points, all coming on trifectas as she buried 5 of 6 attempts, from long distance in the opening half while the impressive Findlay club was racing out to a 51-26 lead.

Her only miss from 3-point land during the first 20 minutes came on a rushed attempt with time winding down on the shot clock. The Oilers quickly got the ball back on a Wheeling Jesuit turnover and fed Gompers again at nearly the same spot on the floor in front of the Cardinals' bench. With time to set her feet, she cleanly whistled this shot through the cords, giving Findlay its first 20-point lead at 40-20 at the four-minute mark of the opening half.

After draining two more treys in the second half, Gompers tried a couple times to break the school record but misfired before receiving a huge round of applause as she left the floor with 3 minutes to play.

''I'm elated that Maggie did so well in her last trip back to Wheeling,'' Findlay coach Kate Cummings said. ''She's been with us from the start when I first took over the program. We went through a lot of hard times early but she understood what we were trying to do, After the great start she had (Monday) we were trying to get her the record but at least she tied it.''

While Gompers and her Oilers teammates were enjoying what was taking place in the windup game of the tournament, it wasn't a lot of fun for Wheeling Jesuit coach Katie Hine and her youthful team.

''I don't think we did one thing particularly well,'' Hine said after spending several minutes with the Wheeling Jesuit players in the locker room. ''They are a very veteran team and we are so young. They played well and we played poorly. That's about the best way I can explain it.''

When you have just one senior on the entire roster and you are playing a team that is bigger, stronger and faster, the chances of winning and even staying close aren't particularly good.

However, the Cardinals rallied from an early 8-2 deficit with nine straight points to claim the lead at 11-8 on Lauren Myers' 3-pointer from the left wing. Gompers countered with her first two 3-pointers around an Audra Mihalic layup after a steal to reclaim the lead to stay at 16-11.

''I honestly think our kids were scared and we cracked at the first sign of pressure,'' Hine said. ''But that's a tribute to Findlay's experience and our youth. I look for them to go far this year.

''From our standpoint, we have to keep working on our defense. We are not picking people up right away. We had the same problems with penetration in our halfcourt defense that hurt West Liberty when they played them.''

During Sunday night's opening game of the two-day tipoff tournament, Findlay breezed past the Hilltoppers while the Cardinals were connecting on 14 of 37 3-point attempts in their victory against Lake Erie College.

The Oilers obviously paid attention to Wheeling Jesuit's 3-point success and did a solid job of overplaying the Cardinals shooters in the first half. While Hine's team finished with a respectable 10-for-27 from behind arc, six of Wheeling Jesuit's triples came in the final stages of the game. The Cardinals were only 4 of 14 during the opening 20 minutes.

All 12 Oilers in uniform dented the scoring column. Supporting Gompers were former Sugarcreek Garaway standout Laura Bardall with 17 points and reserve forward Tai Dotson who had 13 points.

Three Cardinals also reached double figures as Chrissy Pavlick, Kim Mueller and Kourtney Booth accounted for 14, 12 and 11 points, respectively. Mueller, Wheeling Jesuit's only senior, pulled down nine rebounds but Findlay won the battle underneath the glass by a convincing 45-30 margin.

The Cardinals have seven days to prepare for their opening West Virginia Intercollegiate Conference game of the season against Pitt-Johnstown.

''We can't dwell on this loss,'' Hine stressed. ''Hopefully, we can learn from the mistakes we made and do a better job on both ends of the court in our next game.''