WILMINGTON, Del.- The West Chester women's basketball team (4-3) is set to return to action on Sunday afternoon at Wilmington (0-8) in its non-conference finale vs the Wildcats beginning at 2 p.m.
Series Information
West Chester and Wilmington have met 10 times in their respective histories with West Chester winning all 10 meetings dating back to the 1995-96 season. West Chester and Wilmington have not faced one another since early in the 2019 season, which resulted in a 72-59 win for the Golden Rams on the road over the Wildcats.
In 2019, which was head coach
Kiera Wooden's first meeting with Wilmington, West Chester found itself in a tight contest, as the lead changed hands nine times before a fourth-quarter run by the Golden Rams put the game away. West Chester led for a good bit of the first half but trailed by three at the break after finding itself behind by as many as six earlier in the second quarter. West Chester remained behind until midway through the fourth when Sasha Marvel drained a three to put West Chester in front 44-42. West Chester would never trail again from this point, eventually stretching its lead out to as many as 15 late in the contest en route to the 13-point road victory. Alexis Anderson led four players in double figures with 17 points while
Leah Johnson chipped in 14 of her own on 4-of-10 shooting from three-point range. Gabby Troisi nearly notched a double-double, finishing with 13 points and nine rebounds in the victory.
Flock Talk
West Chester enters play looking to bounce back after its first home loss of the season vs Lincoln on Thursday night, a setback, which snapped a four-game winning streak for the Golden Rams. West Chester led for much ofhte game, leading by as many as eight points late in the first half but it was a late-game run by Lincoln, which included an 8-0 run late in the fourth that snapped the Golden Ram winning streak as WCU fell by a final of 76-67.
Emily McAteer registered her team-leading fourth double double of the year with 21 points and 15 rebounds to go along with three assists while
Leah Johnson nearly had a double double of her own, finishing with 10 points, nine assists, and seven rebounds in the setback.
West Chester has had three games this year in which two players have registered double-doubles, second only to the 2015-16 season in which West Chester has four separate occasions of two or more players registering a double-double in the same game. The last time West Chester had at least three games with two players registering double doubles was the 2013-14 season, which also included the last time that three Golden Rams recorded a double-double in the same game (Ely, Kuntz, Sicinski vs Millersville 12/4/13).. This is also the first time since the 2015 half of the 14-15 season in which West Chester has defeated two top-25 opponents in the same year. In that season, West Chester defeated PhillyU (now Jefferson) who was receiving votes on 1/13 before knocking off #16 Bloomsburg on 2/11 and No. 7 IUP in the PSAC Tournament on 3/7.
Junior guard
Leah Johnson is off to another strong start to the year, ranking second on the team in scoring, averaging 14.3 points per game while also leading the team in assists, averaging 8.0 per game. Johnson's 8.0 helpers per contest are the best in the PSAC and also rank her second in all of DII women's basketball. Johnson has been flirting with a triple double throughout the season, finishing just one assist shy of this in the win over Gannon. If Johnson achieves a triple double this season, she would become just the fourth Golden Ram to do so and the first since Gabby Troisi in the PSAC Tournament in 2019.
Scouting Wilmington
Wilmington enters play in the midst of another difficult season, starting the year with a record of 0-8, averaging just 37.5 points per game. Most recently, Wilmington faced off against Jefferson on Tuesday night and scored the second most points it had mustered all season in a 80-43 loss at the hands of the Rams. Fatou Ndao led the team in scoring and rebounding, finishing with 15 points on 5-of-10 shooting while also pulling down nine rebounds in the setback.
For the year, Wilmington has struggled to find its footing offensively, averaging under 40 points a game with Amber Washington leading the charge offensively, averaging 10.0 points per game as the lone Wildcat in double figures through the first 10 games of the season.
As a team, Wilmington has shot just 29.5 % from the field and 15.7 % from beyond the arc to begin the campaign. Ball security has also proved to be somewhat problematic for Wilmington so far this season, committing an average of 26.0 turnovers per game while coming away with roughly 11 per game from its opponents, including an average of 5.6 steals per contest.
Up Next:
West Chester returns to action next Sunday at Pitt-Johnstown in the first of two out west beginning at 5:30 p.m.
