MILLERSVILLE, Pa. - West Chester University travels to Millersville University Tuesday evening for a PSAC Women’s Basketball Tournament quarterfinal-round game against the 23rd-ranked Marauders in Pucillo Gym. The Golden Rams are making their fourth straight trip to the postseason and have qualified for the PSAC Tournament in 14 of the last 15 years.
Tickets to tonight's PSAC Women's Basketball Quarterfinal are $7 for adults and $2 for students. Students from PSAC-member institutions with a valid ID are admitted free of charge. PSAC passes are also honored.
West Chester has won its quarterfinal round matchup in each of the past two seasons, defeating Cheyney at home on both occasions. The last time West Chester lost in the quarterfinals was 2007 when Millersville upset the higher-seeded Golden Rams, 57-54, inside Hollinger Field House. West Chester is 2-5 all-time against Millersville in the PSAC Tournament and 0-3 inside Pucillo Gym in the postseason. The winner of tonight’s tilt advances to the PSAC semifinals, which will be played at the highest remaining seed in the Western Division – most likely national No. 1-ranked Gannon (30-0), against the winner of Indiana (Pa.) vs. California (Pa.).
Tonight’s Storylines
Tonight’s matchup features two of the PSAC’s three head coaches with more than 400 career wins. West Chester’s Deirdre Kane has 414 career wins to her credit while Millersville head coach Mary Fleig has 491 career victories – ninth all-time at the NCAA Divisoin II level. Clarion head coach Margaret “Gie” Parsons has 424 career wins as well.
Millersville and West Chester have dominated the Eastern Division of the PSAC since 2003, finishing first and second in the final regular-season standings five times over the last eight years. The two shared the regular-season title in 2009. Millersville won the regular-season title outright in 2008 and again this winter. Since 2007, West Chester is 37-15 in conference play, and Millersville is 44-8.
West Chester freshman forward Alex Lennon (Lansdowne, Pa./The Shipley School) was named PSAC East rookie of the week Monday by the conference. It marked her first conference weekly honor. Lennon averaged 11 points and six rebounds in just 26 combined minutes of action in the Golden Rams’ two wins last week that clinched a playoff berth. She tied a season-high with 13 points in West Chester’s win over Shippensburg last Wednesday.
Scouting Millersville
Millersville is ranked 23rd in the latest USA Today/ESPN WBCA Division II coaches’ poll. Millersville leads the all-time series with West Chester 41-20. MU has swept the regular season series with WCU in two of the last three seasons.
Millersville will once again look to rely on its defense. Offensively the Marauders are the lowest-scoring team in the PSAC Tournament. MU averages just 62.9 points per game, which ranks 12th in the conference. Indiana (Pa.) at 66.9 points per game is the next lowest-scoring team to make the eight-team field. The Marauders defense (50.6 ppg) does allow nearly seven points per game fewer than the next best team in the tournament (Gannon, 57.4 points per game).
The Marauders continue to roll on at a torrid pace, winners in 16 of their last 17 games. The only loss during this streak was a 67-58 setback at Cheyney on Jan. 27.
