Montrose graduate Dallas Ely scored a game-high 25 points, but could not get the potential game-winning shot to fall before the regulation buzzer Friday when West Chester University fell to West Liberty, 88-85, in an NCAA Division II Women’s Basketball Tournament opening round game at California University of Pennsylvania.

Ely, a 5-foot-9 guard from Montrose, led the Golden Rams to their fifth tournament berth in school history and to within one game of a school record for victories in a season.

Through the end of this, her junior season, Ely has positioned herself to possibly become the school’s all-time leader scorer.

West Chester, however, was unable to produce the second NCAA victory in school history.

Ely’s 3-point attempt in the closing seconds rattled around the rim and did not fall. She went 5-for-10 on 3-pointers in the game.

West Liberty pulled out the overtime win with the help of an NCAA Division II Atlantic Regional record 29 rebounds by Kierra Simpson.

West Chester, which had just one senior on the roster, had a 13-point, second-half lead get away.

Ely was 9-for-24 from the floor and 2-for-2 from the line in the game. She also grabbed eight rebounds, the second most on the team.

After three seasons, Ely has 1,220 career points, eighth on the all-time list at West Chester. She is 336 short of the record held by Kiesha Mack. Ely has scored more than 336 points each of the last two seasons.

West Chester (24-6) landed one of 42 at-large bids in the 66-team national tournament. It was seeded fourth out of eight teams in the Atlantic Regional.

The eight region winners advanced to the NCAA Women’s Elite Eight March 24-27 in Sioux Falls, S.D.

Ely averaged 15.0 points while playing 34.3 minutes per game in West Chester’s 30 games. She shot 38.6 percent from the floor, 34.1 percent on 3-pointers and 83.5 percent from the line. Ely also averaged 5.5 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 1.3 steals.

WEEK IN REVIEW

While Susquehanna County athletes waited for the start of the spring season, several District 2 teams and athletes continued in state competition.

The Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association Swimming and Diving Championships were held Wednesday through Saturday at Bucknell University. The PIAA also conducted two more rounds of its boys’ and girls’ basketball championships to get down to the final four in each classification.

In swimming, Wyoming Valley West’s senior freestyle sprinter Ed Zawatski and the Dallas girls’ team led the way for District 2.

Zawatski claimed the district’s only medals for top eight finishes in Class AAA when he took second in the 50-meter freestyle in 20.54 seconds and added a fourth in the 100 freestyle.

The Dallas girls had the best finish in school history, taking seventh in the Class AA team standings.

Freshman Annalise Cheshire led a long list of AA medalists from the district by placing third in the 50 freestyle and anchoring the fifth-place 200 freestyle relay finish.

Lake-Lehman’s Matthew Edkins medaled in Class AA diving for the fourth straight year, matching his career-best by placing third.

In basketball, Holy Redeemer (Class AA) and Old Forge (Class A) each won twice to make it to the state semifinals.

Holy Redeemer defeated North Schuylkill, 61-48, and St. Basil Academy, 39-29.

Old Forge moved within a game of its second straight state championship game appearance by defeating Phil-Mont Christian, 49-34, and Shamokin Lourdes Regional, 50-38.

The Honesdale girls were an overtime loss away from making it three District 2 teams in the girls’ semifinals. The Lady Hornets beat Merion Mercy Academy, 49-29, before falling to Conrad Weiser, 52-48, in overtime.

Mid Valley won once to make the Class AA boys quarterfinals before it was eliminated. The Spartans topped Columbia, 49-44, then lost to Conwell-Egan, 72-56.

THE WEEK AHEAD

The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins host the Binghamton Senators Saturday night in a meeting of American Hockey League rivals.

In high school basketball, the PIAA Championships culminate with four title games each Friday and Saturday at the Giant Center in Hershey.

TOM ROBINSON writes a weekly local sports column for the Susquehanna County Transcript. He can be reached online at RobbyTR@aol.com.

HARVICK WALTZES TO PHOENIX VICTORY

Kevin Harvick is a winner at Phoenix. Furnished by NASCAR.

PHOENIX, Ariz.—Kevin Harvick is on a roll. Last week he won at Vegas. This past Sunday, he led 224 laps of the 312-lap Sprint Cup race at Phoenix for his second consecutive win.

Joey Logano led during the early stages of the race, but by lap 50, everyone knew Harvick’s No. 4 Stewart Haas Chevrolet was going to be hard to beat.

“That last restart was kind of slippery,” said Harvick. “I almost let Jamie (McMurray) get away from me.

“What you’re got to understand is there are a lot of different things on the cars this year, but we’ve still got the same team, and they have a world of experience working together. They really know how to get things right.”

Harvick has now finished no lower than second in the first four races. He has seven consecutive top-two finishes and has won four of the last seven races, including the final two of the 2014 season.

Jamie McMurray gave it a good shot on the race’s last restart during lap 300, but didn’t have the speed Harvick did, and had to settle for runner-up.

“I think we ran good all day,” said McMurray. “We had a good car, maybe not the best, but we got loose near the end of the race.”

Dale Earnhardt Jr. had a rear wheel come off on lap 189, causing him to hit the outside wall and finish last.

Harvick’s teammate and boss at Stewart Haas Racing, Tony Stewart hit the outside wall twice; the first time on lap 246, and again on lap 289.

After Stewart’s last contact with the wall, most of the front runners pitted for two fresh tires, while Harvick remained on the track.

Another caution came out on lap 298 after Danica Patrick spun around coming out of turn-4.

When racing resumed, the drivers that had fresher tires didn’t have enough laps left to catch the leaders.

Ryan Newman, who finished third, was one of the drivers that had fresher tires.

“We had a strong car,” said Newman. “We didn’t get it done today, but we’re knocking on the door.”

Kasey Kahne was fourth, while Kurt Busch, who was just reinstated by NASCAR on Thursday, was fifth.

“Oh man what a great team,” said Busch. “I’m only back four days and they gave me such a great car to drive. This team has more heart than any other one I’ve ever worked with.”

Brad Keselowski was the sixth-place finisher, followed by Martin Truex, Joey Logano, Jeff Gordon, and Kyle Larson.

Top-16 Chase contenders after 4 of 26: 1. Harvick182 (2 wins), 2. Logano-160 (1 win), 3. Johnson-124 (1 win), 4. Truex-155, 5. Kahne-132, 6. Allmendinger-127, 7. Earnhardt-126, 8. Newman-123, 9. Keselowski-116, 10. Kenseth-113m 11. Menard-112, 12. Mears-111, 13. Hamlin-108, 14. Almirola-105, 15. Bowyer-101, 16. Biffle-101 (Note: Johnson has less points, but his one victory puts him higher on the point scale.).

LOGANO IS DOMINANT IN PHOENIX XFINITY WIN

Joey Logano, winner of this year’s Daytona 500, led 176 laps of Saturday’s 200-lap Xfinity race for his first Xfinity win since 2013. Matt Kenseth was second, followed by Kevin Harvick, Austin Dillon, Erik Jones, Ty Dillon, Chase Elliott, Brendan Gaughan, Regan Smith, and Brian Scott.

Top-10 leaders after 4 of 32: 1. T. Dillon-153, 2. C. Buescher-143, 3. Reed-135, 4. Elliott-132, 5. Wallace-132, 6. Gaughan-122, 7. Smith-121, 8. Sadler-114, 9. Starr-106, 10. Suarez-103.

KAHNE MADE 400TH START AT PHOENIX

Kasey Kahne, driver of the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet made his 400th Sprint Cup start this past Sunday at Phoenix International Raceway. He has accumulated 17 wins, 83 top-five finishes and 147 top-10 finishes.

He was born April 10, 1980 in Enumclaw, Washington.

He began racing open wheel sprint cars at the age of seventeen., and then moved to USAC. In 2001. Kahne made a trip to Pennsylvania where he won the season opener at the historic Williams Grove Speedway. He was hired by Steve Lewis, who had also employed future NASCAR drivers Jeff Gordon, Jason Leffler, Tony Stewart, and Kenny Irwin, Jr. In his first year on the circuit, he was named Rookie of the Year, as well as winning the national midget championship. He continued to run USAC, as well as the Toyota Atlantic Series and the World of Outlaws.

Kahne made 20 starts in the Nationwide Series driving the No. 98 for Robert Yates Racing. His best finish was a tenth-place finish at Cabela's 250. In 2003, he moved to the No. 38 for Akins Motorsports. He won his first pole at Michigan International Speedway and his first Nationwide race at the Ford 300. In 2004, he also made a pair of starts in the Craftsman Truck Series at Darlington Raceway and Homestead-Miami Speedway, winning both races.

Kahne replaced Bill Elliott in the No. 9 Dodge for Evernham Motorsports at the end of the 2003 season when Elliott announced a part-time schedule starting with the 2004 season. Since Kahne was still under contract with Ford, the manufacturer filed a lawsuit against him to try to prevent the move. Ford eventually got money from Kahne, allowing him to go to Dodge.

In 2012 Kahne moved to Hendrick and began driving the No. 5 for Hendrick Motorsports. His teammates are Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Weekend Racing: The Cup and Xfinity teams are at the 1.5-mile Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California. While this track has only been open since 1997, NASCAR has enjoyed a long history at other California racing facilities, dating back to the early 1950s. One of the last and most famous NASCAR tracks was Riverside International Speedway.

The track opened in 1957. The original course design proved to be dangerous, and it was partially reconfigured in 1969. In January 1964, Riverside claimed the life of 1962–'63 NASCAR champion Joe Weatherly, who refused to wear a shoulder harness and wore his lap belt loosely.

After 14 years of NASCAR as a driver and later a car owner, Richard Childress won his first NASCAR race in 1983, when Ricky Rudd drove his No. 3 Piedmont Airlines Chevrolet to victory in the 1983 Budweiser 400k.

From 1981 until 1987, NASCAR's championship race was at Riverside.

Sat, Mar. 21; Xfinity Series race 5 of 32; Starting time: 4 pm ET; TV: Foxsports1.

Sun, Mar. 22; Sprint Cup race 5 of 36; Starting time: 3:30 pm ET; TV: Fox.

Racing Trivia Question: Which team did Kevin Harvick score his first Cup win with?

Last Week’s Question: What year did Jimmie Johnson win his first Cup championship? Answer. His first Cup championship came in 2006.

You may contact the Racing Reporter at: www.hodges@race500.com.