WEST CHESTER, Pa.- Leah Johnson (Columbus, N.J./Notre Dame) led all scorers and ended the game with a career-high 27 points on 10-of-19 shooting to help the West Chester women's basketball team (4-9, 2-5 PSAC) find its way back on to the winning side of the ledger in a 59-54 victory over Millersville (1-12, 0-8 PSAC).
In the first quarter, West Chester and Millersville traded baskets throughout the period, with neither team opening up a lead larger then five points, but the Golden Rams were able to carry a slim two-point, 17-15 lead into the second quarter.
In the second period of play, West Chester took its largest lead of the game after an early three-pointer from
Alexa Abbonizio (Springfield, Pa./Springfield) for her 10
th point of the half, making the score 20-15 in favor of the Golden Rams. Millersville outscored West Chester 16-9 over the next nine minutes of play, thanks in large part to an 8-0 scoring run late in the quarter to take a 31-29 lead into the halftime break.
In the first half, Abbonizio and
Leah Johnson (Columbus, N.J./Notre Dame) tied for the game lead in scoring with 10 points each through the first 20 minutes of play.
To open the second half, Millersville went on a quick 6-0 run to open the third period, which allowed the Marauders to take an eight point lead, which was its largest lead of the contest before the Golden Rams began their comeback effort. West Chester closed the third period on a 16-4 run, which allowed the Purple and Gold to erase the early deficit and take a slim 45-41 lead into the fourth quarter of play.
West Chester continued its scoring run in the early stages of the fourth quarter, eventually going on a 12-0 run, which ended 49 seconds into the period with West Chester holding a 46-41 lead. Millersville worked to battle back over the remainder of the contest and briefly reclaimed the lead, making the score 49-48 with 5:58 to play but
Morgan Warley (West Chester, Pa./Villa Maria Academy) countered with a quick layup to allow West Chester to reclaim a 50-49 lead. This basket gave West Chester the final lead of the contest as the Golden Rams outscored their guests 9-5 in the final minutes of regulation to hold on for a 59-54 comeback victory.
In addition to Johnson's game-high 20 points, freshman Abbonizio ended in double figures with 15 points for her eighth double-digit scoring effort of the season and her seventh in her last nine games. Johnson also ended the game with six rebounds and a game-high six assists to go along with a career-best six steals in the comeback effort.
As a team, West Chester shot 35.1 % (20-of-57) from the field and 42.9 % (9-for-21) from three-point range while going 10-for-17 (58.8 %) from the line in the victory.
For Millersville, Lauren Lister led the Marauders in scoring with a team-high 16 points, five assists, and five rebounds going 6-for-16 from the field and 4-of-5 from the line. As a team, Millersville shot 37.7 % (20-for-53) from the field and 27.8 % (5-for-18) from three-point range while shooting 75.0 % (9-of-12) from the line in the loss.
Despite the setback, Millersville did end the game with a slim +5 edge in the rebounding battle, which resulted in an 8-5 advantage in second-chance points. West Chester, however, ended the game with a 25-13 advantage in points off turnovers and an impressive 20-8 edge in points off fast breaks, both of which were key factors in the comeback victory.
West Chester will be back in action on Saturday afternoon at Bloomsburg with that contest set to begin at 1 p.m.
