Follow the Golden Rams!
@WCUAthletics
/WCUAthletics
/WCUAthletics
/wcupais1
WEST CHESTER, Pa. – History was made inside Hollinger Field House on Wednesday night as the West Chester women's basketball team (22-4, 19-3 PSAC) extended its winning streak to 17 which is the longest streak in team history. West Chester picked up this historic win after dispatching PSAC rival Shippensburg (7-19, 6-14 PSAC) by a final score of 79-65.
The longest winning streak in team history before this season came back in the 1971-72 season when Carol Eckman guided her charges to a 16-1 record with their only loss coming in what was the first Women's Basketball National Championship game to Immaculata College (now Immaculata University). The Golden Rams also went undefeated through PSAC Divisional competition becoming just the third PSAC women's basketball team and the second team in PSAC East women's basketball history to accomplish this feat. The last team in the East to accomplish this was Shippensburg when they went unbeaten through the East in 2016-17. The only other team to accomplish this was Gannon when they went unbeaten through the West in the 2009-10 season.
West Chester opened the first quarter on a 9-0 run thanks in part to back to back steals from
Lexi Bruno (Millville, N.J./Millville) which turned into points on the other end of the floor. This run forced Shippensburg to burn an early timeout just over two minutes into the game in an effort to regroup. Out of this timeout, Shippensburg appeared to regain their footing if only briefly as they scored four points of their own to make the deficit just five. West Chester had a 12-6 run over the final six minutes of the first quarter to take a commanding 21-10 lead into the second quarter of play.
In the second quarter, the Golden Rams and Raiders traded baskets for most of the quarter, but West Chester ultimately was able to close the half on a 9-2 run to take a 42-26 lead heading to the half. In the first half of play,
Mia Hopkins (Pittston, Pa./Pittston) and
Camden Boehner(Gettysburg, Pa./Gettysburg) registered 10 points apiece to help lead the West Chester offense. Bruno also had seven as did
Destiny Jefferson (Scranton, Pa./West Scranton). Ariel Jones was the leading scorer for Shippensburg at the halftime break with eight points of her own.
In the first half, West Chester shot 18-37 (48.6 %) from the field while going 4-13 (30.8 %) from 3-point range. The West Chester defense was stout in the first half, as they held Shippensburg to just 12-29 (41.4 %) shooting from the field and they did not allow Shippensburg to hit a three (0-5). West Chester also held a 13-10 edge in defensive rebounds and a large 9-4 advantage in offensive rebounds at the end of the first half.
Coming out of the locker room it appeared as if the tide may have turned as the Raiders outscored the Golden Rams by a 23-12 margin holding West Chester to just six points in the first seven minutes of the second half. This run narrowed the West Chester lead to 54-49 after the third.
In the fourth quarter, West Chester opened the quarter on 12-4 run which extended the lead to 66-53 with just over seven minutes to play. West Chester utilized the early momentum from this run to outscore Shippensburg by a 25-16 margin the fourth which ultimately carried West Chester to the 79-65 victory.
This win also marked the fourth time in the last month, that West Chester has trailed for less then thirty seconds en route to a home victory as the Golden Rams never trailed in this contest.
For the game West Chester shot 34-67 (50.7 %) from the field while going 7-17 (41.2 %) from 3- point range. West Chester also shot 4-6 (66.7 %)from the charity stripe. West Chester ended the game with a very narrow edge in field goal percentage as Shippensburg went 27-55 (49.1 %) from the field but West Chester did hold a noticeable edge in 3-point shooting as Shippensburg went just 4-13 (30.8 %) from deep. Shippensburg also trailed West Chester from the charity stripe as they went 7-12 (58.3 %) from the stripe.
The Golden Rams ended the game with a +10 edge in rebounds as they outrebounded Shippensburg 36-26 including 14-7 on the offensive glass. These 14 offensive boards paid dividends for West Chester as they scored 15 second chance points compared to just three second chance points for Shippensburg. Each team ended the game with 17 turnovers although West Chester did hold a 13-7 advantage in steals for the game thanks in large part to six steals from Speller.
Speller ended the game with a team-high 18 points along with six rebounds and three assists. Bruno, Boehner, and Hopkins each game away with 16 points and Hopkins added seven rebounds, and six assists. Bruno also finished with four rebounds, three assists, and three steals while Boehner finished with four rebounds, one assist, and three steals of her own.
For Shippensburg Jones ended with 26 points on 10-16 shooting but West Chester did force her to commit a team-high five turnovers.
This was the final regular season game for West Chester and by virtue of its stellar record West Chester captured the PSAC East title which earned them a first-round bye into the PSAC quarterfinals next Wednesday night against a team and at a time yet to be determined.
