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MILLERSVILLE, PA - Looking to go 2-0 in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) East play, the West Chester University women's basketball team headed to the Pucillo Gymnasium on Wednesday evening to square off against the Marauders from Millersville University.
Wednesday's contest was a battle of two evenly match opponents, as both teams exchanged a slim lead after each of the opening two quarters. Following a 19-19 split in the third, the visiting Golden Rams used stellar foul shooting to outscore Millersville 21-13 in the final frame to claim the 76-69 victory on the road. With the win, West Chester improves to 7-4 overall and 4-3 in PSAC play, while the home Marauders fall to 5-6 on the year behind a 2-5 mark in league action.
The home team started out the game strong, jumping out to a 9-3 advantage after the first four minutes. Down 16-11, WCU's
Lexi Bruno (Millville, N.J. / Millville) connected on a triple to start a huge 15-0 run for the visitors, which lasted all the way until the 9:13 mark in the second quarter. When Millersville finally did break the Golden Rams' streak with a free throw, the scoreboard read 25-17 in favor of the visitors with just over seven minutes to play in the second frame. The next four minutes of the contest saw the Marauders orchestrate 10-0 spurt of their own to retake the advantage at 27-25 with 3:18 remaining in the stanza. A layup by
Justyn Roberts (Harrisburg, Pa. / C.D. East) with 31 seconds to play put West Chester up one, 36-35, before back-to-back free throws by the Marauders would put the home team back on top 37-36 entering the locker rooms.
Following a 19-19 split in the third, both teams headed into the final frame with Millersville clinging to a slim 56-55 lead. After trailing for the first three minutes in the fourth, Bruno connected on another clutch three pointer at the 7:10 mark to square the game at 62-62, which marked the beginning of the Golden Rams' taking control of the game. Back-to-back free throws by
Porscha Speller (Lancaster, Pa. / Lancaster Catholic) followed Bruno's triple to put the visitors up 64-62 and set in motion span where West Chester connected on 10 out of its final 12 shots from the charity stripe. Millersville managed to connect on two triples late, but West Chester's consistency from the foul stripe proved to be the deciding factor, as the Golden Rams left the Pucillo Gymnasium with the 76-69 win.
Entering Wednesday's outing having scored a combined 21 points in her last three games,
Mia Hopkins (Pittston, Pa. / Pittston) exploded for a career-high 22 points (8-of-11) and six rebounds to lead the Golden Rams' attack against Millersville. Bruno's clutch shooting from deep led to the senior putting up 16 points against the Marauders, while Roberts snatched a career-high eight rebounds to go along with six points off the bench.
West Chester shot 24-of-54 (44%) from the field and connected on a season-best 20-of-24 (83%) shots from the free throw line in the victory. The Golden Rams' bench outscored Millersville's group 29-4 and West Chester managed to earn the win on the road despite being outscored 38-26 in the post.
Kendra Bamberger's 19 points led four Marauders in double figures, while Alayah Hall and Janelle Robinson each grabbed seven rebounds in the loss.
