SHEPHERDSTOWN, W.V.- The West Chester women's basketball team (6-11, 4-7 PSAC) enters play on Monday evening at Shepherd looking to cap off a solid month of January, which has seen the team play some of its best basketball of the season, especially in recent times, going 3-3 on the month with wins in three of its last five games.
Series Information
While West Chester has substantial history with most of its PSAC East opponents, Shepherd is notable exception to this as the Golden Rams and Rams have met just six times dating back to the 2002-03 season as the Rams only recently joined the PSAC, with their first season in the league coming during the 2019-20 season. In the 2019-20 season, Shepherd swept the season series vs West Chester, however, both games were decided by slim, single-digit margins with West Chester dropping its home game by three points (68-65) before falling at Shepherd (71-66) later in the season.
In the final meeting of the 2019-20 season series between West Chester and Shepherd, the Golden Rams traveled to Shepherdstown and despite jumping out to an early 21-11 lead, fell to the Rams by a 71-66 final. Shepherd closed the first half out with a 22-6 run to erase the early deficit and take back the lead en route to the five-point win.
Alexis Anderson led the team in scoring with 22 points while
Justyn Roberts (Harrisburg, Pa./C.D. East) is the leading returning scorer having scored six points on 3-of-7 shooting in the setback. As a team, West Chester shot a solid 47.6 % from the field in the first quarter but cooled off considerably after that, ending the game with a 34.2 % field goal percentage and a 23.5 % three-point shooting percentage.
Flock Talk
West Chester returns to action on Monday evening looking to bounce back from a hard-fought loss at Mansfield on Saturday afternoon, which saw the Golden Rams lead only briefly in the first half before trailing by 18 points entering the fourth quarter. In the fourth, West Chester made sure to not go down quietly, outscoring its hosts 25-7 over the final period, capped off by a clutch layup from Roberts as time expired to force overtime. Roberts, who forced overtime gave the Golden Rams the lead to open overtime, marking the first time the team had led since late in the first quarter but this would be the team's final lead of the game as the Mountaineers closed the game on a 13-7 run to escape with a 70-66 upset victory.
Leah Johnson (Columbus, N.J./Notre Dame) led the Golden Rams in scoring with 24 points to cap off an impressive week of basketball for the sophomore guard as she narrowly missed her third double-double of the week, ending with eight rebounds, four assists, and seven steals in the setback. As a team, West Chester shot just 32.5 % from the field with its best shooting effort coming during the fourth-quarter comeback when the Golden Rams shot 50.0 % from the field to erase the deficit and force overtime.
A week ago, Johnson was the difference for West Chester, leading the team in most major categories as she ended the week with two double-doubles in three games (back-to-back games on Monday and Wednesday), averaging 24.0 points per game, 10.3 rebounds per game, 4.7 assists per game, and 3.7 steals per game to help lead the Purple and Gold.
While West Chester has fallen off as a team from three-point range, now sitting sixth in the PSAC in this category, shooting 30.8 % on the year, the Golden Rams remain one of the top three-point shot defending units in the PSAC, holding opponents to an average of just 24.8 % from deep per game. Bloomsburg is first in this category while this week's opponent Shepherd resides in third in the league in this area.
Scouting Shepherd
Shepherd enters play on Monday evening following its third win in as many tries after defeating Lock Haven at home by a final of 78-50 in the third game of its four game homestand. Similarly to the manner in which the Golden Rams dispatched the Bald Eagles, Shepherd wasted little time in taking an early lead, jumping out to a 16-8 advantage in the first quarter en route to the 28-point win. Lock Haven attempted to comeback late outscoring its hosts 22-20 in the fourth but the early deficit was far too much to overcome. Sydney Clayton led the Rams in the win, finishing with 28 points and seven rebounds while Abby Beeman who remains one of the top facilitators in all of Division II women's basketball, finished with 15 points and six assists in the victory.
For Shepherd, who enters play with a mark of 15-3 overall and 9-3 in league play, Abby Beeman has been the difference maker for them this season. Beeman, enters play leading the PSAC in multiple categories, including scoring (19.2/G), and assists (7.5/G), while residing in second place in the league in steals per game (2.5/G) trailing Johnson in this category. Beeman's 7.5 assists per game has also allowed her to remain atop all of Division II women's basketball in this category, a spot she has held throughout much of the 2021-22 season.
As a team, Shepherd enters as arguably the most dangerous offensive unit in the PSAC to this point in the season, sitting atop the league in points per game averaging 70.5 points per game, leading the league in all three major shooting categories including a 45.5 % team field goal percentage and a 32.8 % team three-point shooting percentage.
Up Next
West Chester will be back in action against the same Shepherd Rams squad on Wednesday night at home beginning at 5:30 p.m.
