WEST CHESTER, Pa.- Coming off a win in its season opener on Saturday evening over Wheeling, the West Chester women's basketball team (1-1) returned to action on Sunday afternoon to start day two of the Carol Eckman Classic against MEC rival Glenville State (2-0). Glenville State jumped out to an early lead and never fully relinquished its early advantage en route to a 95-75 victory over the Golden Rams.
In the first quarter, Glenville got out to an early lead, going up by as many as 10 with 4:31 to play before West Chester began to battle back. The Golden Rams answered back in the waning moments of the first half, to make it a four-point game (28-24) heading into the second quarter.
In the second period of play, Glenville State continued to outscore the Golden Rams, growing the lead to as many as 19 midway through the period (45-26, 4:37 to play). Trailing by 19, West Chester went ot work coming out of the media timeout as the Golden Rams outscored their guests 16-5 to close out the half and trail by just eight (50-42) heading into the halftime break.
Justyn Roberts (Harrisburg, Pa./C.D. East) and
Leah Johnson (Columbus, N.J./Notre Dame) tied for the team lead in scoring at halftime break, scoring 12 points each while
Bink Redman (York, Pa./William Penn) led the way in rebounds with five through the opening 20 minutes of action.
In the third quarter, Glenville State outscored West Chester by a 24-11 margin to take a commanding 74-53 lead into the fourth quarter of action
West Chester and Glenville State traded baskets to open the fourth quarter as the Pioneers held a 82-59 lead with just under five minutes to play. Down the stretch, West Chester worked to battle back into the contest but the Golden Rams fell short, dropping a 95-75 decision vs the Pioneers to fall to 1-1 on the season.
Johnson ended the contest as the Golden Rams leading scorer with 21 points, just one shy of her season-high from the opening night victory while Roberts, Redman, and
Morgan Warley (West Chester, Pa./Villa Maria Academy) all joined her in double figures with 14, 12, and 10, respectively. Johnson also ended as the Golden Rams leader in assists and rebound with six assists and four helpers in the setback.
As a team, West Chester was 30-of-69 (43.5 %) from the field and just 2-of-14 (14.3 %) from three-point land while also shooting 13-of-20 (65.0 %) from the charity stripe.
For Glenville State, Re'Shawna Stone led the Pioneers in scoring with a team-high 19 on 8-of-12 shooting from the field while Abby Stoller and Taychaun Hubbard tied for the team lead in rebounding with nine rebounds each.
Glenville State was 38-of-81 (43.5 %) from the field while going 10-of-33 (30.3 %) from range in the victory.
Glenville State ended the contest with an impressive 52-36 edge in rebounding while also winning the rebound battle by a slim +2 margin in the victory.
West Chester will be back in action on the road on Wednesday evening at Lincoln beginning at 7 p.m.
