RICHMOND, Va. – On Saturday afternoon the West Chester University women's basketball team (23-6, 19-3 PSAC) began its NCAA Tournament campaign against a Mountain East Conference (MEC) opponent in Glenville State (31-1, 22-0). Glenville State went on to win by a final score of 118-87.
In the first quarter of play, Glenville State opened with a 10-0 run over the first two minutes of play, which led to an early West Chester timeout. Coming out of this timeout West Chester answered back with a 5-0 run to cut the deficit to 10-5. From this point forward the two sides traded baskets and brief runs. At the end of the first quarter of play, West Chester trailed by a score of 33-21.
Mia Hopkins (Pittston, Pa./Pittston) was the Golden Rams leading scorer with eight points on 3-of-5 shooing from the field and 2-of-4 shooting from the free throw line.
The Pioneers continued to attack in the second quarter, as they opened the second on an 11-2 run forcing the Golden Rams to take another timeout early in the second quarter. Glenville State continued to play well in the second quarter of play, outscoring West Chester 32-11 in the quarter, to take a commanding 65-32 lead to the half.
Lexi Bruno (Millville, N.J./Millville) was the leading scorer for West Chester in the first half, scoring 10 points while also reeling in four rebounds. Hopkins ended the half with eight points and five rebounds.
West Chester shot 13-of-39 (33.3%) from the field in the first half, while going 2-for-12 (16.7%) from 3-point range. West Chester also shot 4-of-6 (66.7%) from the charity stripe in the first half. Glenville State meanwhile shot 19-of-39 (48.7%) from the field and 10-of-25 (40.0%) from 3-point range. Glenville also held a noticeable 17-for-22 (77.3%) from the charity stripe. Glenville State held a very small plus three advantage on the glass by virtue of a plus three advantage in defensive rebounds. West Chester also committed a costly 13 turnovers while forcing just four.
In the third quarter, the two sides were evenly matched as West Chester scored 29 points while surrendering just 32. Unfortunately, the lead that was built up in the first half, proved to be more then enough to keep Glenville State in the lead by a score of 97-61.
In the fourth, the teams continued to trade buckets in the early going, and after the first five minutes Glenville held a 17-14 advantage entering the under five media timeout. West Chester closed the game strong as they managed to outscore Glenville State for the quarter holding a 26-21 advantage in the final quarter of play.
Porscha Speller (Lancaster, Pa./Lancaster Catholic) posted a new NCAA Tournament career-high with 13 points which gives her 1,087 points to end career, which is good enough for 18th All-Time on the West Chester scoring list. Speller also three rebounds in the game, which pushes her career total to 373 while her assist total climbs to 227 with one additional assist in this afternoon's game.
Camden Boehner (Gettysburg, Pa./Gettysburg) also saw her illustrious career come to a close this afternoon as she registered 14 points (four three-pointers made), along with three rebounds, and a pair of assists. This performance brings her career point total to 690, her rebound total to 141 and her assist total to 111. She also recorded her 115
th career three-pointer, which moves her into a tie for eighth All-Time in threes made. Finally, Boehner, also ends her career with a 84.6% free throw shooting percentage, which is the best mark in team history.
West Chester finished the game shooting 36-of-89 (40.4%) from the field while also shooting 8-of-33 (24.2%) from three. West Chester also shot 7-of-12 (58.3%) from the free throw line. Glenville State ended the game shooting 39-of-82 (47.6%) from the field while also shooting 19-of-48 (39.6%) from three-point range to go along with 21-of-30 (70%) from the stripe.
The rebound battle was extremely close as Glenville State held just a one rebound edge (48-47) at the conclusion of the game. A hallmark of West Chester's game for most of the season has been its ability to limit and force turnovers. Unfortunately, this was not the case tonight as the Golden Rams committed 19 turnovers while forcing 10.
West Chester also held a noticeable 50-36 advantage in points in the paint, while also holding advantages in second chance points (15-14) and fast break points (22-14).
118 points is the most points the Golden Rams have ever given up eclipsing the previous high of 112 set by Clarion in the 2000-01 season and tied by Glenville State in 2016 during the 2016 edition of the Carol Eckman Classic.
This loss brings West Chester's impressive season 2017-18 season to a close.
