WEST CHESTER, Pa.-The West Chester university women's basketball team (20-4, 17-3 PSAC) continued its winning ways on Wednesday night when they welcomed Lock Haven (5-18, 4-15 PSAC) to the friendly confines of Hollinger Field House. The Golden Rams went on to win by a final score of 82-63.
This victory extended the Golden Rams winning streak to 15 games, marking the longest winning streak for West Chester since the 1971-72 season when West Chester won 16-straight under legendary head coach Carol Eckman.
Lock Haven started fast and opened up a 6-2 lead just three minutes into the first quarter of play but West Chester was undeterred as they quickly answered back with a 19-4 run to close the first quarter with a 21-10 lead over the visitors. In the first quarter,
Camden Boehner (Gettysburg, Pa./Gettysburg) registered 11 points amid the 19-4 run. This hot streak continued, in the second quarter of play, as West Chester opened the second on a 9-4 run which extended the lead to 30-14 with 5:56 to play in the first half. At the half Boehner led all scorers with 13 points while
Mia Hopkins (Pittston, Pa./Pittston) and
Porscha Speller (Lancaster, Pa./Lancaster Catholic) each scored six points to help West Chester carry a 39-22 advantage into the locker room.
The halftime break did little to slow down the Golden Rams as they opened the third quarter on a 15-4 run thanks in large part to a string of nine consecutive points for Boehner including two 3-pointers, and a successful three-point play. This 15-4 run caused the West Chester lead to balloon to 54-26 with 5:39 remaining in the third quarter. The remainder of the third quarter of play was evenly matched as the teams traded buckets which allowed West Chester to take a 66-36 lead at the end of the third quarter.
In the fourth, West Chester was on cruise control as they coasted to a 82-63 victory. During this final quarter of play the leading scorer for West Chester was #
Alexis Anderson# (Allentown, Pa./Louis E. Dieruff) who recorded six points while
Destiny Jefferson (Scranton, Pa./West Scranton) registered four points of her own down the stretch.
In the first half of play West Chester struggled from beyond the arc shooting just 2-16 (12.5 %) from 3-point range but they did manage to turn things around in the second half as they went 4-9 (44.4 %) during the third quarter of play alone. West Chester finished the game 6-30 (20 %) from downtown while shooting 34-80 (42.5 %) from the field. West Chester also shot just over 50 percent from the charity stripe as they went 8-14 (57.1 %) for the night.
The Golden Ram defense worked hard throughout the night as they held Lock Haven to just 24-67 (35.8 %) shooting from the field and just 3-22 (13.6 %) from deep. Two out of the three Lock Haven makes came in the fourth quarter of play when Lok Haven managed to shoot 50 percent from 3-point range.
Turnovers were a major factor on Wednesday night as West Chester forced 20 turnovers while only turning the ball over ten times through the course of the game. West Chester was also effective in using these turnovers as they managed to score 18 points off turnovers while allowing Lock Haven to score just seven points off turnovers. West Chester also recorded 17 second-chance points while surrendering just 10. The Golden Rams bench also outscored the Bald Eagles bench by a huge 27-9 margin.
Boehner scored a game-high 27 points going 10-17 from the field, 4-10 from 3-point range, and a perfect 3-3 from the charity stripe. Hopkins ended the game just one rebound shy of another double-double as she scored 14 points while pulling down nine rebounds.
Ahnera Parker led the Bald Eagles on offense scoring 18 points while pulling down six rebounds. Bink Redman also played well as she recorded a double-double scoring 14 points while coming away with 11 rebounds.
This game marked the first time West Chester has trailed for more then thirty seconds at home during the month of February, but it did not seem to matter as West Chester still managed to win going away by a final score of 82-63.
West Chester takes to the road on Saturday for the final time during the regular season when they travel to East Stroudsburg with that game scheduled to tip at 1 p.m.
Prior to the game West Chester honored Speller who scored her 1000th point on saturday afternoon in the Golden Rams impressive victory over Cheyney. Pictured below is Speller (left) receiving her commemorative ball from Associate Athletic Director (AD) (right) Kellianne Milliner.
