MANSFIELD, Pa.-After trailing by 18 points entering the fourth quarter, West Chester (6-11, 4-7 PSAC) completed a furious fourth-quarter comeback, which saw the Golden Rams outscore the host Mountaineers of Mansfield 25-7 over the final 10 minutes of basketball to even the score at 57-57 and force overtime. In the extra session, West Chester took the lead back for the first time since the late stages of the first quarter but it was Mansfield who closed the game on a 13-7 run to escape with the narrow 70-66 OT victory.
In the fourth quarter, West Chester shot its highest percentages of the afternoon, shooting 50.0 % (10-of-20) from the field and 66.7 % (4-of-6) from the line to erase the deficit and force overtime.
Leah Johnson led the team in scoring on the afternoon, finishing with a game-high 24 points, eight rebounds, four assists, and seven steals, narrowly missing her third double-double of the week in the setback. 14 of Johnson's 24 points came during the fourth quarter and overtime while
Justyn Roberts also poured in eight points during the late game comeback to finish with 11 on the afternoon.
Alexa Abbonizio was the final Golden Ram in double figures in the setback, ending with 12 points while
Bink Redman finished with eight points of her own and a team-best six assists in the setback.
For Mansfield, Jasmine Hilton led the way in scoring with 14 points and 12 rebounds while Kira Merritt who played a key role in helping Mansfield earn the victory in overtime, securing critical points from the free-throw line finished with 13 points of her own to stave off the Golden Rams.
West Chester jumped out to an early first quarter lead, going up 5-2 with four minutes gone in the opening period before eventually holding a slim 8-7 lead with 2:47 to play in the opening stanza. This one-point advantage would be the Golden Rams final lead of regulation time, as Mansfield closed the quarter on a 4-0 run to take an 11-8 lead into the second quarter of play, which it extended to eight points (30-22) heading into the halftime break.
In the third quarter, Mansfield scored the ball well, outscoring West Chester 20-10 over the course of these 10 minutes to take an 18-point (50-32) lead into the fourth quarter, which would prove to be the Mountaineers largest lead of the day.
In the fourth quarter, West Chester found its footing offensively once again, outscoring Mansfield 14-2 over the first 7:03 of the period to cut the deficit down to just six points (52-44) entering the final minutes of regulation. West Chester continued to cut into the deficit moments later when
Leah Johnson (Columbus, N.J./Notre Dame) drained a three-pointer off an assist from
Alexa Abbonizio (Springfield, Pa./Springfield) to make the score 52-49 before
Bink Redman (York, Pa./William Penn) corralled an offensive rebound following a missed three from Abbonizio and converted a layup with just under two minutes to play to cut the deficit to just one point (52-51). On the ensuing possession, following a Golden Ram timeout, Mansfield was fouled on the shot and hit 1-of-2 free throws to extend the its lead back to 53-51 as the game entered its final stages.
With the clock ticking under one minute to play in regulation, West Chester and Mansfield both had empty possessions, giving West Chester the ball back with 40 seconds to play and trailing by just two points, thus, prompting another timeout by head coach
Kiera Wooden. Out of the timeout, Jasmine Perez came away with a crucial steal for Mansfield to give the Mounties the ball back with 31 seconds to play in regulation. With no choice but to foul in an effort to stop the clock and get the ball back for the Golden Rams, Redman committed a pair of quick fouls before
Tacari Talford (Robesonia, Pa./Conrad Weiser) committed the necessary fifth foul to put Mansfield on the line with 23 seconds to play. Kira Merritt, who entered play as one of Mansfield's top free throw shooters on the season, shooting 76.5 % entering play, stepped to the line and converted both of her attempts to give the Mounties a four-point lead in the closing seconds.
On the ensuing possession, Johnson was fouled on a step back two pointer, with her foot on the three-point line to send the sophomore guard to the line with 13 seconds to play. Johnson drained both of her free throw attempts, cutting the deficit to just two points before Mansfield called a timeout to advance the ball. On the inbounds play,
Justyn Roberts (Harrisburg, Pa./C.D. East) made what may go down as the play of the night for the Golden Rams, stealing the inbounds pass and converting a fast break layup off an assist from Johnson to even the score at 55-55 with six seconds to play. Mansfield countered quickly, scoring a go-ahead basket just two seconds later to take a 57-55 and prompting a West Chester timeout with 3.7 seconds to play. As the clock hit zero, Roberts came through in the clutch for West Chester once again taking an assist from Redman off a baseline drive by the senior guard and laying it in to even the score at 57-57 and force overtime to decide a victor.
In the extra session, Roberts continued her late game heroics, hitting a pair of free throws to open the scoring and give West Chester its first lead since there was 2:47 to play in the first quarter, making the score 59-57 with 4:17 to play in OT. Unfortunately, this was the Golden Rams final lead of the afternoon as the Mounties scored nine of the next 12 points to take a 66-62 lead with 21 seconds to play. Roberts continued her late game heroics, hitting a three-pointer off an assist from Redman with 12 seconds to play before Redman scored two points of her own with six seconds left to cut the deficit to 68-66 following a 1-for-2 trip to the line by Merritt on the previous possession. Leading by just two points, Merritt stepped to the line again, this time converting both free throws two seconds to play, allowing Mansfield to escape with a 70-66 overtime victory.
As a team, West Chester finished the day with a 32.5 % field-goal percentage and a 26.1 % three-point shooting percentage while shooting an uncharacteristically low 50.0 % from the line in the setback. For Mansfield, the Mounties shot 36.9 % from the field and 25.0 % from beyond the arc while shooting a much improved 75.0 % from the line to thwart the Golden Ram comeback effort.
Mansfield ended the game with a slim 50-48 edge in rebounding and a 16-9 edge in second chance points while West Chester finished the game with a +6 edge in the turnover battle and a 30-18 advantage in points in the paint.
West Chester will have a quick turnaround as the Golden Rams are back in action on Monday evening at Shepherd beginning at 5:30 in the first of two games next week vs the Rams as they will visit Hollinger on Wednesday night for the second game of the season series between the two squads. Luckily, West Chester will not have to wait long to try and exact revenge on the Mounties as they will visit Hollinger Field House on Monday, February 7
th in a makeup game from the postponement on January 15
th.
