WEST CHESTER, Pa.- The West Chester women's basketball team (1-0) opened its 2021 season on Saturday evening with a 73-61 victory over Wheeling University on the first day of the Carol Eckman Classic.
In the first quarter, Wheeling opened with a 6-0 run before the Golden Rams countered with a 22-0 run to close out the first quarter and take a 22-6 lead into the second quarter.
Leah Johnson (Columbus, N.J./Notre Dame) led all scorers in the first quarter with seven points on 3-of-8 shooting as the Golden Rams to help the Golden Rams out to the 16-point lead.
To open the second quarter, Wheeling remained on its cold streak until 9:08 remained in the half when it got its first points of the period via a layup from Jacqui Hinesmon to make the score 22-8 early in the period. Neither team shot particularly well during the second period as West Chester was just 4-of-12 from the field while Wheeling was 3-of-16. At the end of the second period, West Chester outscored its guests by a slim 10-9 margin as Johnson ended the opening 20 minutes of basketball with a game-high 11 points on 4-of-11 shooting from field and a 1-for-3 performance from three-point range. Freshman
Alexa Abbonizio (Springfield, Pa./Springfield) also turned in a strong first-half performance, scorng seven points on 3-of-7 shooting through the opening 20 minutes of basketball.
To open the second half, West Chester outscored its guests by a 14-10 margin through the first five minutes of play to extend its lead to 46-25. Following this media timeout, Wheeling outscored its guests 17-6 to trim the deficit to just 10 (52-42) heading into the fourth quarter.
In the first five minutes of the fourth quarter, West Chester and Wheeling traded buckets as each team scored 10 points, which allowed the Golden Rams to hold on to a 10-point lead, with the score locked at 62-52 with 4:54 to play. Down the stretch, West Chester and Wheeling continued to trade baskets as the Golden Rams held on for a 73-61 victory on Saturday evening.
Johnson ended her night as the game's leading scorer and one of four Golden Rams in double figures with 22 points while Abbonizio added 16 of her own in her collegiate debut.
Bink Redman (York, pa./William Penn) had an impressive Golden Ram debut, finishing with 11 points while
Justyn Roberts (Harrisburg, Pa./C.D. East) chipped in 10 points of her own in the victory.
West Chester ended the night shooting 27-of-57 (47.4 %) from the field while shooting 6-of-16 (37.5 %) from three-point range. West Chester also shot 65.0 % (13-of-20) from the charity stripe in the victory.
For Wheeling, Shanley Woods led the Cardinals in scoring with 18 points on 5-of-14 shooting including a 5-of-11 effort from three-point range.
Wheeling ended the contest with a 40-37 edge in rebounding while West Chester won the turnover battle (20-26). The olden Rams also ended the game with a 21-18 edge in points off turnovers and a 12-6 edge in bench points.
West Chester will be back in action on Sunday afternoon vs Glenville State beginning at 12 p.m.
