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WEST CHESTER, Pa. -Â Riding a two-game winning streak, the West Chester University women's basketball team returned to Hollinger Field House on Saturday afternoon to welcome Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) opponent Mansfield University to campus in a battle of PSAC East representatives.
Entering Saturday's contest, the Golden Rams boasted the No. 2 scoring offense in the league at 80.2 points/game despite the squad scoring under 78 points in each of its last seven contests. Backed by four players in double figures, West Chester managed to find its offense on Saturday and defeated Mansfield 91-73 to mark the 18-straight victory for the Golden Rams (8-4, 5-3 PSAC) over the Mountaineers (4-10, 2-6 PSAC) dating back to the 2009-10 season.
West Chester had a hot hand from the jump, racing out a 7-0 advantage to kick off the contest. Trailing 12-4 at the 6:42 mark, the visitors orchestrated a 10-2 spurt to come all the way back and knot the game at 14-14 with just over three minutes to play in the first frame. The Golden Rams were able to rebuild a small 18-14 cushion over the next few minutes, before a layup and a successful and-1 by Mansfield's Alyssa Mullins put the visitors on top 21-18 with 39 seconds to play in the first quarter. The Golden Rams ended the quarter with layups from
Porscha Speller (Lancaster, Pa. / Lancaster Catholic) and
Camden Boehner (Gettysburg, Pa. / Gettysburg) to snatch the advantage back (22-21) heading into the second quarter of action.
The West Chester defense caught up with its offense in the second quarter, holding the Mountaineers to just 11 points overall. The Golden Rams paired the low-scoring quarter by the visitors with a 23-point frame of its own to take the 45-32 lead after one half of play.
The Golden Rams began to tack on even more points onto its lead in the third and eventually pushed the cushion to as many as 25 points (63-38) following a layup by Boehner with 6:12 to play. Despite the large deficit, the Mountaineers hung strong and closed out the third on a 7-0 spurt to cut the home team's cushion to 72-59.
Although the fourth quarter's 19 points would be the lowest for West Chester on the evening, the damage done in the first three quarters proved more than enough to give the Golden Rams the win. After a layup by
Justyn Roberts (Harrisburg, Pa. / C.D. East) put the home team on top 91-71 with just a minute remaining, the game ended with two Alayna Biesecker free throws to bring the final score to 91-73 in favor of West Chester.
The Golden Rams shot 36-of-72 (50%) from the floor overall after shooting exactly 50% in both the first and second half. West Chester bested the Mountaineers in both points in the paint (50-38) and points off turnovers (34-19), while holding a dominant 30-12 edge over Mansfield in bench production.
Coming off a career-high 22 points against Millersville,
Mia Hopkins (Pittston, Pa. / Pittston) came back on Saturday and led West Chester with 19 points and nine rebounds to go along with six assists. Freshman
Destiny Jefferson (Scranton, Pa. / West Scranton) also had a memorable afternoon against the Mountaineers, putting up 17 points (7-of-8) and five steals, while Boehner (16) and
Katherine Fisher (Ruttedge, Pa. / Strath Haven) (12) combined for 28 points in the victory.
Brielle Kelly's game-high 23 points led five Mansfield players in double figures and Mary Kate Rumbaugh's nine boards were the most on the Mountaineers overall.
