Speller's Career Day Not Enough as West Chester Falls 86-78 to Seton Hill

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WEST CHESTER, Pa. - Looking to bounce back from an 86-75 defeat against No. 7 Indiana University of Pennsylvania yesterday, the West Chester University women's basketball team returned to Hollinger Field House on Sunday afternoon to square off against Seton Hill University in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) crossover action.

The Golden Rams (4-2, 1-2 PSAC) entered Sunday's conference game coming off an 11-point loss against the ranked Crimson Hawks, despite featuring four players in double figures. Conversely, the Griffins came to West Chester touting a 3-3 overall record (1-2 PSAC) and having lost 73-62 on the road at East Stroudsburg yesterday.

The story of the day was the performance of WCU guard Porscha Speller (Lancaster, Pa./Lancaster Catholic), as the talented senior put up a career-defining outing and almost single-handedly led her squad to victory at Hollinger on Sunday. Playing in all 40 minutes, Speller poured in a career-high 31 points on 9-of-23 shooting from the floor, while grabbing a career-best 14 boards to go along with seven assists and two steals. A quick look at the scoresheet showed Speller leading the Golden Rams in every major statistical category on Sunday as she also dropped in a team-high 10 free throws on the day. Despite the historic performance from its senior leader, the Golden Rams were unable to combat four Griffin scorers in double figures as the home team fell 86-78 on Sunday to drop to 4-3 overall and 1-3 in PSAC action.

After a layup by Seton Hill's Jenna Kaufman knotted the game at 4-4 to start the game, before West Chester answered with jumpers from Katherine Fisher (Ruttedge, Pa./Strath Haven)  Speller to take the 8-4 advantage with just over six to play in the opening frame.  Down 13-12, the Griffins strung together a 5-2 run – capped off by a free throw by Cheyenne Trest – to give the visitors its first lead of the game at 17-15 with 2:14 remaining.  A jumper from Lexi Bruno (Millville, N.J./Millville) would knot the contest at 17-17, before back-to-back free throws by Courtney Cecere gave the visitors the slim 19-17 lead heading into the second quarter.

Seton Hill kept the pressure up to start the second quarter, pushing the lead to as many as eight points in the opening moments. Down 26-18, Speller knocked down four free throws and a jumper to bring the Golden Rams within two at 26-24 with just under seven minutes to play in the frame.  Speller came through again with free throws to square the game at 28 all, before Bruno connected with a streaking Justyn Roberts (Harrisburg, Pa./C.D. East) to give West Chester the lead back (30-28) with three minutes to play in the second. The Golden Rams were able to maintain its cushion for the remainder of the quarter and Speller would end the opening half by rebounding her own miss and converting a layup in traffic to push the West Chester advantage to 40-32 heading into the locker rooms. After putting up seven points in the first half, Speller came back in a big way in the second frame, putting up 17 points in the final 10 minutes to end the first half with a game-high 23 points to go along with a game-high seven rebounds in 20 minutes.  

Fisher started the third with a jump shot to put the home team up 42-32, a shot that would mark the only field goal for the Golden Rams for the next six-plus minutes. Seton Hill managed to keep the ball on its side of the court for a majority of the opening minutes in the third, and put the home team into the bonus in less than four minutes. Up 42-40, Speller ended the WCU scoring drought with a layup at the 4:03 mark to push the home's cushion to 44-40 in the third. A long triple from Seton Hill's Alexandra Hay squared the game at 46-46, a shot that spurred a 7-2 run for the Griffins to put Seton Hill up 53-48 with 1:05 to play in the third. Down seven, the Golden Rams ended the third frame by outscoring the Griffins 7-2 to cut the home team's deficit to just two, 55-53, heading into the final quarter of action.

The home team cut the Seton Hill advantage to as little as two points on six separate occasions in the fourth, until a made free throw by Mia Hopkins (Pittston, Pa./Pittston) was able to trim the game to just a single digit (70-69) with 4:01 to play. Fighting off a comeback, the Griffins showed their resolve as they managed to retake control of the game over the waning moments thanks to some stingy defense and clutch foul shooting. Sunday's game ended with two free throws by Seton Hill's Lindsey Mifsud to hand the visiting Griffins the key 86-78 victory on the road.

Along with Speller's 31, Hopkins (13 points) and Fisher (10 points) were the other two Golden Rams to notched double figures in Sunday's loss, with Fisher adding seven boards in 34 minutes.

Jenna Kaufman's 23 points were tops on the Griffins and led five players in double figures for Head Coach Mark Katarski's squad.