JOHNSTOWN —
When basketball players are young, they often dream of one day being the best college basketball player in the country and winning a national championship.
While few players see their dreams become reality, Becky Siembak did. The former Greater Johnstown High School standout achieved that individual goal in 2003 when she was named the NCAA Division II Player of the Year by the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association while playing for the California (Pa.) University Vulcans.
Cal reached the NCAA Division II Final Four that season, when Siembak was a junior. The following year, the Vulcans captured the first national championship in school history, compiling a 35-1 record in the process.
Siembak realizes that most players’ dreams are unlikely to be realized.
“Looking back, I am sometimes amazed what I’ve accomplished,” Siembak, who will be inducted into the Cambria County Sports Hall of Fame on Saturday night, said.
“Never in my wildest dreams did I envision winning a national championship. But, we pulled the game out and we won it.”
Siembak etched her name into the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference record book with her performance as a post player, first at Slippery Rock and then at Cal. She scored 2,019 points in her career, which is ninth in the conference, and she pulled down 1,203 rebounds, which is fifth all-time in the PSAC. She is among elite company in accomplishing that since only 15 players in Division II history have scored 2,000 points and recorded 1,000 rebounds.
After her junior season, she was named a first team All-American by the WBCA and was the PSAC-West Player of the Year.
The Greater Johnstown High School graduate shot at a high percentage in her college career, hitting 61.6 percent of her shots as a junior and 59.9 percent as a senior. Overall, her 58.9 percent shooting percentage is third in the PSAC.
Siembak laughed when asked when she started playing basketball.
“I was in third grade,” she said. “I just remember going to a basketball clinic at the YMCA. Don Roberts was the head coach at Johnstown then. I started playing in the third grade, and I have loved it since.”
The Trojans were not a power when she played for them from 1995 until 1999, but she thinks she was able to succeed in college because of her experience with them. She scored 1,733 points and pulled down
1,325 rebounds for Johnstown.
“Even though we did not win many games, I gained valuable experience in the Mid-Alleghenies Conference playing against the best players in the state,” she said.
After graduating from Johnstown in 1999, Siembak went first to Slippery Rock, where she played for coach Darcie Vincent.
During her freshman season, the Rockets advanced to the NCAA East Regional and then to the Division II Elite Eight. When Vincent accepted the job at Cal after that season, Siembak followed her there.
“Darcie was an outstanding coach and brought the best out in you,” Siembak said about her college coach, who is now the head coach at Appalachian State University.
“After we won the East Regional in my freshman year, it was a no-brainer to follow her to Cal.”
Siembak credits her parents, Chet and Dorothy Siembak, with providing her with support to reach her goals.
Siembak graduated from Cal in 2003 with a bachelor’s degree in education and is a member of the school’s sports hall of fame.
She is now a seventh grade learning support teacher at Trinity Middle School in Washington County.
Sports
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Becky Siembak was named the Division II player of the year as a junior in 2003 and led the Vulcans to the national championship the next year. Submitted Photo
Discussion
Former Trojan Siembak set to enter Cambria County Sports Hall of Fame
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