WEST CHESTER, Pa.- The West Chester women's basketball team (3-9, 1-5 PSAC) will look to find its way back onto the winning side of the ledger with a PSAC East clash vs rival Millersville (1-11, 0-7 PSAC) inside Hollinger Field House on Wednesday night beginning at 5:30 p.m. When West Chester returns to the floor on Wednesday evening, it will be the Golden Rams first game in two weeks, as the team last played back on January 5
th at Kutztown, giving the Golden Bears all they could handle in a 64-53 setback.
Fan Information
In an effort to continue a safe atmosphere for coaches, student-athletes, officials, and game administration, West Chester has temporarily modified its seating options for home basketball games. Under the current arrangement, while spectators will still be welcomed to Hollinger Field House, they will be unable to sit in the bleachers located behind the team benches/scorer's table. Spectators attending games will be able to sit in the bleachers on the side of the gym opposite the team bench area.
As a reminder, all spectators, regardless of vaccination status, are required to wear a mask when attending any indoor athletic contests inside Hollinger Field house. Masking by all spectators in attendance creates the safest possible atmosphere for the student-athletes, coaches, staff, team representatives, officials, and all other spectators.
Series History
West Chester and Millersville have no shortage of history with one another as the two sides have met 92 times over the years, with the Marauders holding a slim 47-45 lead in the all-time series. Despite Millersville holding a slight edge in the series, the Golden Rams enter play, having won the last meeting during the 2019-20 season by an 85-71 final while also holding a 25-18 advantage in home games against the visiting Marauders.
During the 2019-20 season, West Chester and Millersville split the series, with each team picking up in a win in front of their home crowd. In the final meeting between the two rivals of the year, which was played inside Hollinger Field House, West Chester saw six players score in double figures led by a 20-point effort from
Alexis Anderson.
Leah Johnson (Columbus, N.J./Notre Dame) is the leading scorer from that game among the Golden Rams returners, having scored 13 points to go along with a team-high five steals and four assists to help lead West Chester in the comeback victory.
Golden Ram Notes
In West Chester's most recent contest on the road at Kutztown, West Chester fell behind early, trailing 9-2 in the early stages of the contest. The Golden Rams worked throughout the evening to battle back and trimmed the deficit to as few as five points with just under two minutes to play, but Kutztown was able to hold on and outscore the Golden Rams 6-0 down the stretch to escape with the 64-53 victory.
Alexa Abbonizio (Springfield, Pa./Springfield) set a new season and career-high for scoring in the setback, scoring a team-high 19 points, while Johnson added 12 of her own along with 15 rebounds for her team-leading fourth double-double of the year. Johnson's 15 rebounds nearly helped the Golden Rams win the rebounding battle, but the Golden Bears ended the day with 43 to the Rams 41 in the setback. As a team, West Chester shot just 29.5 % (18-of-61) from the field and 35.0 % (7-of-20) from three-point range while also going 10-for-14 (71.4 %) from the stripe in the setback.
Abbonizio and Johnson have been constants for the Golden Rams throughout the 2021-22 season as Johnson has scored in double figures in 10 of 12 games while Abbonizio has eclipsed the 10-point plateau in seven of 12 games, leading the team in scoring in three of those seven contests. In addition to her steady scoring, Johnson has shown herself to be a weapon with or without the ball, as she has four double-doubles to her credit (four 10+ rebound games) along with seven games in which she chipped in five assists or more to help facilitate the Golden Ram offense.
As a team, West Chester ranks in the bottom half of the league in points per game, averaging just 60.8 per contest; however, the Golden Rams continue to be among the best in the league from three-point range on both sides of the ball. Offensively, West Chester is shooting 32.2 % from deep, which trails only Shepherd and Kutztown, placing the Golden Rams third in the league in this category. On the defensive end, West Chester has continually shown itself to be a stingy unit, allowing opponents to shoot just 24.5 % from beyond the arc, which ranks second-best in the PSAC, trailing only East rival Bloomsburg.
Scouting Millersville
For Millersville, the Marauders enter into Wednesday night's contest following another frustrating loss at the hands of Shepherd on Monday evening by a final of 56-44. Shepherd, who entered play averaging 71.5 points per game, which ranks second-best in the PSAC, was held to one of its lowest offensive outputs of the season. Despite this low-scoring night, Shepherd returned the favor defensively, holding Millersville to just 44 points to escape Pucillo Gymnasium with a victory. Millersville remained close throughout the first half, trailing by just two points entering the second quarter and by just five as the game went to the halftime break, but the Rams outscored their hosts 19-10 in the third quarter to claim a commanding 14-point lead heading to the fourth and final quarter of play. Lauren Lister led the Marauders in scoring, pouring in 14 points, including a perfect 6-for-6 from the line as the only Marauder to score in double figures in the setback.
As a team, Millersville, who enters play averaging just 48.9 points per game with a field-goal percentage of 33.9 %, looks to Lister for much its offensive production as she leads the team in scoring, averaging 11.4 points per game while also leading the team in assists, averaging 1.8 per game. Brenna Ortwein leads the Marauders on the glass, averaging a team-best 4.5 rebounds per game while ranking second on the team in assists, averaging 1.5 helpers per contest.
Up Next
Following this contest, West Chester will be back in action on Saturday afternoon at Bloomsburg, with that contest set to begin at 1 p.m.
