WEST CHESTER, Pa.- Following a hard-fought road loss at Lincoln on Wednesday evening, the West Chester women's basketball team (1-2) will look to get back on track against Chestnut Hill on Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. as the Golden Rams near the end of their non-conference schedule before opening PSAC play on December 3
rd vs Pitt-Johnstown.
West Chester and Chestnut Hill have not met frequently over the course of their respective histories, with just two documented meetings all-time between the two schools but the Golden Rams have had the upper hand in the series between the rivals, winning each of the first two meetings by a combined 64 points, outscoring the Griffins 164-100 in the victories.
West Chester was in action on Wednesday evening at Lincoln as the Golden Rams looked to improve to 6-2 all-time vs the home-standing Lions. Despite being a strong first half team for much of the season, entering play on Wednesday evening outscoring its opposition by nine points in the opening half over the course of the first two games, it was a poor first-quarter shooting performance, which doomed the Golden Rams in the 67-61 setback. In the opening stanza, West Chester shot its lowest percentage of the game, just 33.3 % from the field as the host Lions leapt out to an early 21-10 lead. From this point, West Chester outscored Lincoln for the remainder of the contest and trimmed the deficit to as few as four points in the closing moments of regulation but Lincoln held on for narrow 67-61 victory.
Leah Johnson (Columbus, N.J./Notre Dame) continued what has been an outstanding start to the year for the sophomore guard as she led all scorers once again with 18 points, thanks to a 16-point second half while
Alexis Gleason (Clifton Heights, Pa./Msgr. Bonner and Prendergast) joined her in double figures with a career-high 12 points.
Bink Redman (York, Pa./William Penn) also posted a game-high 10 rebounds in the road setback.
For the year, Johnson remains the team leader in points, assists, and steals averaging 20.3 points per game, 4.7 assists per game,and 3.7 steals per game. She also remains inside the top-10 in all three categories in the PSAC as she currently leads the league in steals per game while ranking eighth in the league in assists per game and sixth in the league in points per game. Redman who has also been a difference maker for the Golden Rams through her first three games wearing the Purple and Gold, currently leads the the team in rebounding, averaging 7.0 rebounds per game while ranking second on the squad in points (9.0/G), assists (2.7/G), and steals (2.7/G).
As a team, West Chester averages 69.7 points per contest, which is seventh best in the PSAC (third best in the PSAC East) while also posting the sixth best field-goal percentage in the league, shooting 43.7 % from the field through the first three games of the year. Additionally, the Golden Rams still remain among the top-five in the league in steals, as they are currently tied for fourth in the league in this category averaging 9.33 steals per game.
Chestnut Hill enters play on Sunday afternoon with a record of 2-1 after also splitting its first two games of the year and defeating Millersville on the road on Wednesday evening by a 66-45 final. In this contest, Chmiel led the Griffins in scoring with a team-high 18 points on 7-of-9 shooting from the field while also going a perfect 4-for-4 from the charity stripe. Morgan Orloski and Cassie Sebold joined her in double figures in this contest, scoring 11 and 10 points, respectively. Chestnut Hill also ended the game with an impressive +9 (42-33) advantage in rebounding while also outshooting Millersville 43.6 % to just 30.5 % en route to the victory.
Chmiel is the Griffins leading scorer so far this season average 13.7 points per game while Leah Miller and Cassie Sebold each average in double figures as well at 13.0 and 11.0 points per game entering play on Sunday. Chmiel also serves as the team's leading rebounder, averaging 7.3 rebounds per game while Miller also ranks second on the squad in rebounding averaging 5.7 rebounds per game.
As a team, Chestnut Hill is averaging just 62.7 points per game and shooting 40.2 % from the field and 19.6 % from three-point range. The Grifins do hold a +5.6 advantage in rebounding on the year, outrebounding opponents by a 38.3 to 32.7 margin. Chestnut Hill does, however, possess a negative turnover margin, turning the ball over an average of 21.7 times per game while forcing opponents into just 20.0 turnovers so far this season.
Following this contest, West Chester will visit Jefferson on Monday, November 29th with that contest set to begin at 6 p.m.
