WEST CHESTER, Pa.- Following a victory over East Stroudsburg on Monday evening, the West Chester women's basketball team (6-10, 4-6 PSAC) returned to action on Wednesday night at home against Lock Haven (8-9, 5-8 PSAC) in its final home game of the month of January. West Chester raced out to an early first quarter lead, outscoring the Bald Eagles 19-2 over the first 10 minutes of basketball. West Chester rode this early lead to a 59-53 home victory over the visiting Bald Eagles.
In the first quarter, the contest started off with a made three by
Leah Johnson (Columbus, N.J./Notre Dame), which Lock Haven countered with an offensive rebound and layup by Jaynelle Robinson to make the score 3-2 in the early going. This would be Lock Haven's final points of the quarter as the Golden Rams closed the quarter on a 16-0 run thanks in large part to eight points by Johnson.
In the second quarter, Lock Haven started to battle back outscoring West Chester 12-11 over the period led by four points from Robinson to cut the deficit to 30-14 heading into the halftime break. For West Chester, Johnson ended the half with 12 points and six rebounds, well on her way to her sixth double-double of the season.
As a team, West Chester shot 39.4 % from the field and 36.4 % from three-point range while not making any trips to the line through the opening 20 minutes of basketball. For Lock Haven, the Bald Eagles were a perfect 2-of-2 from the line but were just 6-of-32 from the field and 0-for-14 from deep, which led to a 16-point (30-14) deficit heading into the halftime break.
West Chester and Lock Haven traded off throughout much of the third period with neither side shooting particularly well from the field but West Chester was able to outscore Lock Haven 11-9 in the period to take a 41-23 lead into the fourth and final quarter of play.
In the fourth, Lock Haven attempted to erase its early deficit, outscoring the Golden Rams 30-18 over the final 10 minutes but a strong 12-for-13 (92.3 %) effort from the line by West Chester was enough to allow the Golden Rams to hold on for a 59-53 victory.
Johnson, who had a stellar first half, tied her career-high with 27 points and also came away with 13 rebounds for her second double-double of the week and her sixth on the year to help lead the Golden Rams to victory.
Alexa Abbonizio (Springfield, Pa./Springfield) also turned in a strong effort finishing with 11 points on 5-of-14 shooting along with six rebounds and four assists to help lead West Chester to the victory.
For Lock Haven, Ahnera Parker led a trio of Bald Eagles in double figures with 16 points and 15 rebounds while Jaynelle Robinson, finished with a game-high 17 rebounds and nine points in the setback.
As a team, West Chester ended the year with a 33.3 % (21-of-63) field goal percentage and a 5-for-21 (23.8 %) effort from beyond the arc while going 12-of-13 from the line. Lock Haven, who was doomed by its slow start, ended the game shooting just 25.7 % from the field and 17.9 % from deep while going an impressive 10-of-11 (90.9 %) from the line.
Lock Haven ended the game with an impressive 59-38 advantage on the glass and a corresponding 22-2 advantage in second-chance points along with a 26-10 edge in points in the paint. West Chester ended the game with a 10-8 edge in points off turnovers and an 11-4 edge in points of the break along with a 10-2 advantage in bench points.
West Chester will be back in action on Saturday afternoon at Mansfield beginning at 1 p.m. before visiting Shepherd on Monday night with opening tip in that contest set for 5:30 p.m.
