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WEST CHESTER, Pa. - Looking to remain undefeated in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) East contests, the West Chester University women's basketball team embarked on the Hollinger Field House on Wednesday evening to take on cross-town rival Cheyney University. Although in their home venue, the Golden Rams were the away team in Wednesday's game after heating issues the Cheyney's Cope Hall forced a location change for the contest that was originally scheduled to be hosted by the Lady Wolves.
West Chester was the heavy favorite coming into Wednesday's outing, as the Golden Rams had only lost to Cheyney once since the 1991 season. Despite the historical dominance, this evening's contest was no walk in the park for the "visiting" squad. After both teams battled to a 29-29 stalemate to end the first half, the Golden Rams slowly began to pull away in the second frame half to 14 second half points by
Mia Hopkins (Pittston, Pa. / Pittston) and a +10 advantage from the charity stripe. Although not pretty, West Chester managed to outscore Cheyney 48-33 in the final 20 minutes to claim the 77-62 victory and improve to 10-4 overall and 7-3 in PSAC action.
The Golden Rams started the contest up 6-2 following a
Porscha Speller (Lancaster, Pa. / Lancaster Catholic) layup and back-to-back buckets from
Katherine Fisher (Ruttedge, Pa. / Strath Haven). The Lady Wolves stormed back to knot the game at 7-7, but WCU quickly answered back with a 8-2 spurt to grab the 15-9 advantage with 4:04 to play in the first frame. Cheyney would score the next six points of the quarter to square the game at 15-15 and that is where the scoreboard would stay, as neither side was able to record a basket over the final 2:29 on the opening stanza. Both sides exchanged one-point leads through the second quarter, until a layup by the Lady Wolves' Yasmine Dorrielyan gave the "home" team its largest lead of the quarter at 27-24 with 2:26 to play. With West Chester leading 29-27, the half ended with a jumper by Cheyney's Takayla Ellis to bring the score to 29-29 after the first 20 minutes of play.
The Lady Wolves went up four to start the third, but a triple by
Camden Boehner (Gettysburg, Pa. / Gettysburg) and four-straight points by
Fisher would put the Golden Rams back on top 39-33 at the 6:18 mark. Cheyney managed to come back and tie the contest at 49-49, until a jumper by
Alexis Anderson (Allentown, Pa. / Louis E. Dieruff) put West Chester in front 51-49 and marked the last time the Golden Rams would not hold a lead in the game. Clinging to a slim two-point advantage after the quarters, West Chester outscored the Lady Wolves 24-11 in the fourth to seal the hard-fought 77-62 victory inside Hollinger.
After dropping 13 in the first half to keep West Chester within striking distance,
Fisher ended Wednesday's game with a career-high 19 points and six rebounds on a game-high 38 minutes played.
Hopkins finished with 17 points (14 second half) and a team-high three steals against the Lady Wolves, while
Boehner chipped in 11 points on the night.
Cheyney's Yasmine Dorrielan led all players with 21 points and 10 rebounds and Ja'la Walker also notched a double-double with 10 points and 10 boards in the loss.
