WEST CHESTER, Pa.- A career-best 30-point performance by
Anna McTamney (Plymouth Meeting, Pa./Plymouth Whitemarsh) helped lead West Chester (2-2) to an 86-81 comeback victory over previously unbeaten #22/25 Jefferson (5-1) on Saturday afternoon inside Hollinger Field House.
West Chester found itself behind early as the Golden Rams were on the wrong side of a big run by the Rams, which gave Jefferson an early 12-point cushion in the first quarter. Still, the Golden Rams were unfazed, answering back with an equally impressive run of their own, outscoring Jefferson 26-8 in the second quarter to take a lead they would never relinquish. Jefferson led for eight minutes and 59 seconds, holding a narrow lead at the end of the first quarter into the start of the second before West Chester retook the lead and never relinquished it, eventually stretching the advantage to as many as 15 points late in the third quarter en route to the home-opener victory.
With this victory, head coach
Kiera Wooden has now won each of her last two vs. Jefferson while also improving to 4-1 in her last five home openers, including wins in back-to-back seasons. Wooden has also now won 9 of 14 games vs CACC opponents, upping her winning percentage in such matchups to 64.3 %.
McTamney was 13-of-21 from the field and led all scorers with a career-high 30 points as one of four players in double figures, and one of three with over 20 points as
Emily McAteer (Thornton, Pa./Garnet Valley) finished with 22 while
Michelle Kozicki (Wilmington, Del./Padua) added 20 of her own to go along with an 11-point effort from
Morgan Warley (West Chester, Pa./Villa Maria Academy). Kozicki registered her second double-double of the season and second in as many games, finishing with a game-high 13 rebounds, while McTamney added six rebounds of her own in the victory.
Leah Johnson (Columbus, N.J./Notre Dame) nearly accomplished a feat, which is almost unheard of, coming just shy of registering a double-double despite not scoring a point, finishing the game with nine rebounds and nine assists to help West Chester win.
Haley Meinel led four Rams in double figures with 28 points in the loss, while Sam Yencha and Morgan Robinson, who nearly brought the Rams all the way back late in the fourth quarter, ended with 18 and 13, respectively, along with a 10-point effort by Emma Kuczynski.
As a team, West Chester shot 43.1 % (31-of-72) from the field and was 7-of-20 (35.0 %) from three-point range, with all seven makes coming in the first half. West Chester did pick up its free-throw shooting considerably in the second half, shooting 16-of-20 from the stripe in the final 20 minutes of basketball to end the game with a 17-for-24 (70.8 %) foul shooting effort.
For Jefferson, the Rams shot 50.0 % in both the third and fourth quarters, which allowed them to end the game with a 50.0 % field-goal percentage (35-of-70) while going 5-for-16 from three and 6-of-12 from the line
West Chester took an early lead to open the game, but the Rams answered back quickly, eventually leading by as many as 12 points with 4:52 to play in the first quarter before the Golden Rams closed out the final three minutes on a 10-2 run to trail by just four points (22-18) heading into the second quarter.
West Chester opened the second quarter similarly to how it concluded the first on an 11-0 run to stretch its scoring run to 15-0 as the Golden Rams led 29-22 with six minutes to play in the half, prompting a quick Jefferson timeout.
Anna McTamney (Plymouth Meeting, Pa./Plymouth Whitemarsh) scored six points during this run courtesy of back-to-back deep threes in transition, prompting the timeout. Jefferson scored its first points of the frame out of the timeout, but West Chester continued its impressive run, outscoring its guests 26-8 on the quarter to carry a 44-30 lead into the halftime break.
In the first half, McTamney was impressive, scoring a game-high 21 points on 9-of-11 shooting, including a 3-for-4 effort from deep, while
Morgan Warley (West Chester, Pa./Villa Maria Academy) added eight points of her own on 3-of-4 shooting to help lead the Golden Ram offense.
After shooting 50.0 % from the field and 33.3 % from beyond the arc in the first quarter, West Chester stepped up its shooting in the second, going 10-for-18 from the field and 5-of-6 from three-point range in the second to erase its early deficit.
The West Chester defense also stiffened considerably in the second quarter, holding Jefferson to just 28.6 % (4-of-14) shooting from the field and 0-for-4 from deep, in stark contrast to a 10-of-14 shooting effort by the Rams in the first quarter.
For Jefferson, Haley Meinel led the way with 18 points on 8-of-12 shooting as the lone other player in double figures after the first 20 minutes of basketball.
Coming out of the halftime break, Jefferson worked to fight its way back into the game, outscoring West Chester 20-17 over the first eight minutes of the new half, but the Golden Rams early advantage was enough to allow them to maintain a 61-50 lead with 1:59 to play in the third quarter. The third quarter also saw three more Golden Rams reach double figures as McAteer, Warley, and Kozicki all ended the third quarter in double figures, with Kozicki finishing with 13 while McAteer had 12 and Warley had 10.
With under five minutes to play in the fourth quarter, Jefferson began mounting a furious comeback, trimming the deficit to 77-71 with 4:17 to play after a five-point run in a matter of seconds following a stolen in-bounds pass, prompting a quick West Chester timeout. Jefferson continued its comeback down the stretch in the fourth, pulling to within a basket multiple times in the final minutes but effective trips to the line by the Golden Rams allowed West Chester to hold for an exciting 86-81 victory over Jefferson in the 2022 home opener.
West Chester also ended the game with a 47-36 advantage in rebounding, which led to a season-high 20 second-chance points (outscored Jefferson 20-6 on second-chance points) to go along with a 27-18 lead in points off turnovers and a 46-40 advantage in points in the paint. The Golden Rams' 27 points off turnovers is also a season-high for the Purple and Gold, surpassing the previous season-high of 22 points vs. Chestnut Hill a week ago.
Up Next:
West Chester returns to action on Friday evening vs. Mercyhurst in its first PSAC crossover game of the year, beginning at 5:30 p.m. before hosting Gannon at the same time on Saturday night.
