Ely Goes For 29 To Lift West Chester Over Indiana (Pa.), 92-79

Box Score

Indiana, Pa. – Sr., G Dallas Ely (Montrose, Pa. /Montrose) registered a season-high 29 points, shooting 50 percent from the field, to lift West Chester to a 92-79 win over Indiana (Pa.) inside the Kovalchick Convention and Athletic Complex Sunday afternoon.
 
The Golden Rams (3-2, 2-1 PSAC) rebounded in a big way from a three-point loss to Pitt-Johnstown yesterday, attacking the Crimson Hawks inside by outscoring them 54-14 in the paint. IUP (3-1, 2-1 PSAC) suffered its first loss of the season and could not comeback, after an 8-0 run to begin the game. The Crimson Hawks would cut the lead to 11 with 4:17 remaining in the fourth quarter, but could not get any closer.
 
Ely got into the mix with back-to-back 3-pointers to stretch the lead to 12, forcing IUP to call a 30-second timeout. That 3-ball concluded an 18-0 run for WCU to end the first quarter. They grabbed their largest lead of the game at 23 points at the 6:34 minute mark of the third quarter.
 
Sr., G Brittany Sicinski (Downingtown, Pa./Downingtown West) registered her first double-double of the season scoring 20 points and recording 10 assists, to go with seven rebounds in the victory. Forward Anna Kuntz (Camp Hill, Pa./Trinity) also recorded her first double-double of the season with 14 points and 11 rebounds to help WCU keep a steady double-figure lead into the second half.
 
Jasmen Clarke (Temple, Pa./Oley Valley) added 10 points, three rebounds, and three assists as well.
 
IUP opened up the game with a 8-0 run entering the first media timeout and eventually went up 14-11, which would be its final lead of the game. Sicinski converted on a layup and a 3-pointer off of two IUP turnovers to tie the game at 14-14.  Then, a bucket by Kuntz put the Golden Rams out in front for the first time in the game. Kuntz followed it up with an offensive rebound and went back up to push the lead to four with 3:03 left in the first quarter. 
 
Crimson Hawks' Leslie Stapleton led with a team-high 26 points, making 9 of 13 from the field and 6 of 9 from three-point range. Teammate Zhane Brooks recorded 19 points, six assists, and five rebounds, while Marina Wareham added 14 points in the loss.
 
Wareham scored a three and another bucket by Smith dig into the lead and then a jumper to get within 11, causing WCU to call a full timeout. The timeout seemed to light a spark as the Golden Rams went on a 12-5 run out of the timeout to end the half up 50-32.
 
West Chester will take a week to prepare for its next game against Holy Family on Nov. 29 inside Hollinger Field House at 1 p.m.

NOTES: West Chester defeated IUP for the second straight time, after having upset the Crimson Hawks in the PSAC Semifinal in Bloomsburg last spring ... Brittany Sicinski scored her 1,200th career point, moving past current assistant coach Allison Hostetter into eighth place on the school's all-time scoring list ... Dallas Ely is three points shy of her 1,300th career point ... Ely, who stands sixth on the school's all-time scoring chart, is 81 points shy of current head coach Kiera Wooden ... both Sicinski and Ely are chasing the school's all-time record of 1,556 held by Kiesha Mack (2000-01; 2002-05).