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WEST CHESTER, Pa.-The West Chester university women's basketball team (19-4, 16-3 PSAC) welcomed crosstown PSAC East rival Cheyney to the friendly confines of Hollinger field house on Saturday afternoon and the Golden Rams were victorious winning by a final score of 98-63.
This victory extends the Golden Rams winning streak to 14, marking the most games the Golden Rams have won since 1971-72 season when legendary coach Carol Eckman's squad rattled off 16-straight victories to start the year. This is also the third consecutive home game where the Golden Rams have trailed for less then :30 seconds as they never trailed in this afternoons decisive victory.
Prior to the game West Chester held senior day festivities to celebrate the careers of four seniors-
#Lexi Bruno# (Millville, N.J./Millville), Camden Boehner (Gettysburg, Pa./Gettysburg), Mia Hopkins (Pittston, Pa./Pittston), and
Porscha Speller (Lancaster, Pa./Lancaster Catholic).
Hopkins and Speller both etched their names into the record books on Saturday afternoon as Speller eclipsed the 1000 career point mark while Hopkins became just the second Golden Ram to record a triple double (22 points, 13 rebounds, and 12 assists). Speller is the 20th Golden Ram in team history to reach 1000 points and the first since January 31
st, 2015 when Brittany Sicinski accomplished the feat against Kutztown. The last Golden Ram to register a triple-double was Amy Buda when she accomplished this feat in 2001 opposite Green Mountain. In that contest, Buda recorded 10 points, 10 rebounds, and 11 assists. Hopkins also tallied eight steals this afternoon which is the most in a single game since 2009.
West Chester opened the game with a huge 18-0 run over the first six minutes of play. Cheyney eventually got on the board with 3:44 to play, in the opening quarter, when Drazana Vulic drained a pair of free throws to make the score 18-2 with 3:44 left in the first quarter. At the end of the first quarter the Golden Rams held a commanding 30-9 lead over the Wolves. Speller came out hot, in the opening quarter, scoring 10 points off of 4-9 shooting including 50 percent (1-2) from 3-point range.
In the second quarter, West Chester continued to befuddle Cheyney on both ends of the floor which allowed West Chester to take a 53-26 lead into the locker room. After one half of play Speller was well into double figures with 16 points and Hopkins was close behind with 13 points of her own.
Up 27, the Golden Rams strung together a 7-2 run to open the second half capped off by a layup from Hopkins to open the lead to 60-28. Things continued to go well for West Chester in the third quarter which allowed them to open up a 76-39 lead at the end of the third quarter. This proved to be more then enough to allow West Chester to earn the 98-63 victory.
West Chester connected on 37-76 (48.7 %) of their shots from the floor and 46.4 % (13-28) of their attempts from deep against Cheyney. The Golden Rams also held the Wolves to just 26-68 (38.2%) from the floor and 26.7 % (4-15) from 3-pont range en route to the victory.
Speller was the leading scorer as she posted a game-high 27 points while Hopkins came away with 22 points, 13 rebounds, 12 assists, and eight steals. Hopkins was almost lights out from the field on Saturday afternoon as she shot 76.9 percent (10-13) to help West Chester secure the victory.
Destiny Jefferson (Scranton, Pa./West Scranton) chipped in 14 points of her own over the course of 21 minutes of help West Chester earn the victory.
Briana Hedgepeth was the leading scorer for the Wolves as she recorded 13 points while Yasmine Dorrielan recorded a double-double with 10 points, and 10 rebounds.
West Chester will put its winning streak to the test on Wednesday night when Lock Haven comes to Hollinger Field House with that game scheduled to tip off at 5:30 p.m.
