Women's Basketball Comes Up Short Against Bloomsburg, 79-71

Box Score

WEST CHESTER, Pa. – Sr. F Tori Smick (Pilesgrove, N. J./Woodstown) produced a career-high 26 points, to go along with 13 rebounds. However, it was not enough to hold overcome fifth-seeded Bloomsburg in the first round of the PSAC Women's Basketball Tournament Monday, 79-71.

The Huskies (11-16) drew first blood in the contest as they took the lead early, however a swing of momentum occurred for the Golden Rams as Camden Boehner (Gettysburg, Pa./Gettysburg) hit a 3-pointer off a Porscha Speller (Lancaster, Pa./Lancaster Catholic) assist to take back the lead at 10-7 during 6:51 of the first quarter. She finished the night with 13 points, three assist and a steal.

Speller contributed to nine points for the evening and dished out seven assists to her teammates to go along with a pair of steals. She also picked up six boards.

Sr. F Mariah Traywick (Limerick, Pa./Spring-Ford) finished the evening with eight rebounds, a pair of assist to go along with five points while R-Fr. Rylee Power (Newtown Square, Pa./Marple Newtown) earned seven points and four defensive rebounds.

West Chester found itself down as much as nine point during the second quarter. But, second-chance opportunities in the paint for the Golden Rams closed the lead. So. Alexis Anderson (Allentown, Pa./Louis E. Dieruff) scored only three points on the night, coming off the bench to hit a 3-pointer at 2:42 in the second quarter to even the score. The Golden Rams found themselves trailing by four points by the end of the first half as Bloomsburg led, 39-35.

Head coach Kiera Wooden's squad shot a collective 44.6 percent from the perimeter (29-for-65) while shooting 22.2 percent from behind the arc (4-for-18).

A back-and-forth matchup, as there was eight lead changes during the night, West Chester led most of the third quarter. Boehner made another three to break the tie at 46-43 with 5:39 left in the third quarter. The Golden Rams found itself up as much as six points to take the lead at the end of the third at 58-52. Smick scored 10 of her 26 in the third quarter, staking West Chester to their lead heading into the fourth quarter.

Bloomsburg found three players in double figures as Alex Ross finished the night with a game- high 29 points. Taylor Montana also earned 19 points for the Huskies as well as Morgan Klunk, who contributed 17 points on the evening.

Bloomsburg will move on to Shippensburg for the PSAC Quarterfinal on March 1, at 5:30 p.m.