Hall of Fame
To say the 1986-87 basketball season was a good one for Head Coach Jodi Gault and the Lady Cats would be a major understatement. Not only did the team post a 25-5 record, but the Lady Cats did something no other Pitt-Johnstown basketball team has ever done…reach the NCAA Division II Final Four and that was accomplished just one season after moving from Division III!
With just two players missing from the previous season and led by seniors Karen Sayers and Janet Kartovicky and juniors Jill Halapin and Sally Mosay, Coach Gault knew the 1986-87 season could be special.
Coach Gault, flanked by assistant coaches Rob Eckenrod and Terry Solema, started the year with eight straight wins that included Coach Gault’s 100th career victory and Sayers’ 1,000th-career-point, before closing out the regular season ranked 15th in the country and atop the East Region rankings with an impressive 23-3 overall record. The Lady Cats also stood in second-place behind 20-1 Mount Saint Mary’s (MD) College, a team Pitt-Johnstown defeated earlier in the season when the Lady Mountaineers were ranked fourth in the nation, in the Mason Dixon Athletic Conference entering the annual post-season conference tournament.
In the first round, Mosay scored 30 points in an 88-77 win over Longwood (VA) College, but top-seeded Mount Saint Mary’s claimed the title with a 90-62 victory in the championship game. Despite the loss, Coach Gault was named the Mason Dixon Conference Coach of the Year. Halapin, who led the Mason Dixon Conference in scoring (20.3 ppg.) and field goal percentage (60.3%) and was fourth in rebounding (8.6 rpg.), garnered player of the year honors and First-Team Kodak All-District honors. Mosay, the conference leader in assists at eight per game, was a first-team all- conference selection, while Sayers, who was second in field goal percentage at 60.2%, earned a spot on the second-team.
As a team, the Lady Cats led the Mason Dixon Conference in scoring (84 ppg.), field goal percentage (50.4%), and free-throw percentage (68.1%).
After a bye in the opening round of the East Regional Tournament, the Lady Cats played host to Millersville University in the championship game in the Sports Center. Mosay’s basket with 31 seconds left lifted Pitt-Johnstown to a 59-58 win in the Sports Center and a spot in the Division II Elite Eight against Delta State (MS) University, the Region Champion and the No. 1-ranked team in the nation.
The Lady Cats, ranked ninth in the country at that point, were up to the task in the Sports Center and upset Delta State, 68-63. Halapin and Sayers, a Second-Team Kodak All-District choice, each scored 13 points, and Mosay, the Most Valuable Player of the Regional Tournament and NCAA Quarterfinals, added a dozen to set up a Final Four match-up in Springfield, Mass. with defending NCAA Division II National Champion Cal Poly Pomona.
Coach Gault got 16 points apiece from Halapin, who was named to the Final Four’s All-Tournament Team, and Sayers and 13 points from Kartovicky, but Cal Poly Pomona battled back from a 10-point second half deficit to earn a 72-70 victory and end the Lady Cats’ season in the National Semifinals.
Despite the loss, the Lady Cats reached the Final Four…a feat that was never done before and has never been done since!
Members of the 1986-87 Lady Cat basketball Final Four team included: Rita Anderson (SO, G, Altoona, Pa.), Lynne Ashbridge (FR, Forward, Johnstown, Pa.), Bobbi Byrne (SO, Guard, Ebensburg, Pa.), Margaret Gioia (SR, Forward, Elizabeth, Pa.), Jill Halapin (JR, forward/Center, Murraysville, Pa.), Bridget Hale (FR, Guard, Oil City, Pa.), Janet Kartovicky (SR, Guard/Forward, Cheswick, Pa.), Sally Mosay (JR, Guard, Elizabeth, Pa.), Michelle Pflueger (SO, Center, Pittsburgh, Pa.), Kim Rairie (SO, Guard, Reynoldsville, Pa.), Karen Sayers (SR, Center, Bellefonte, Pa.), and Dee Slater (JR, Guard/Forward, Karns City, Pa.).
