WEST CHESTER, Pa.- After knocking off #22/25 Jefferson at home on Saturday afternoon in its long-awaited home opener and earning its second win in a row, the West Chester women's basketball team (2-2) is primed to open league play this weekend with a pair of crossover games against Mercyhurst (2-2) and #15/8 Gannon (6-0) with both games beginning at 5:30 p.m.
Fan Information
Fan's are reminded of the updated ticket prices for the 2022-23 season, with single-game century club tickets being $20, single-game adult tickets being $10, children/senior tickets being $5, and WCU students being admitted free of charge with current, valid ID.
Series Information
West Chester has played to a mark of just 21-33 in PSAC West crossover matchups dating back to the 2011-12 season when the league went to a Divisional format. WCU went 1-4 in such matchups a year ago, falling to 3-14 vs the Western Division in the last three seasons.
Friday night's clash will be the 10th meeting all-time between the Golden Rams and Lakers with the series dating back to the 2009 season. West Chester enters off a loss and has dropped two of its last three to the Lakers, snapping a four-game winning streak, which the Golden Rams had held in the all-time series. The last victory for West Chester came inside Hollinger Field House during the 2017-18 season, which saw WCU win by a final of 72-53 thanks to a trio of Golden Rams in double figures led by 14 each from Porscha Speller and Katherine Fisher.
The last meeting between Mercyhurst and West Chester came during the 2019-20 season, which despite an 11-3 run in the fourth quarter, West Chester fell by a final of 57-55. Similarly to the victory in the 2017-18 season, Katherine Fisher led the Golden Rams in scoring in this contest, finishing with 19 points to lead the Golden Rams in the setback.
Leah Johnson also finished in double figures, chipping in 12 points, five rebounds, and three assists in the setback.
West Chester and Gannon possess limited history with one another, having met just eight times before with the first meeting coming in 2011 (a 71-66 win for the Golden Rams just after the New Year) and the most recent coming in 2019 (a 80-73 loss for WCU at Gannon). West Chester has gone just 2-6 vs Gannon all-time and 1-2 over the last three meetings with the last victory in the series coming in November 2016 inside Hollinger Field House by a final of 65-59. Madison Torresin gave West Chester a late lead in this contest with a go-ahead basket with under a minute to play as she led the Golden Rams in scoring with 16 points. Trailing by four at the half, West Chester outscored its guests 18-6 in the third quarter to erase the halftime deficit and take a lead into the fourth, which following the late bucket by Torresin was enough to lift West Chester to its second win over the Golden Knights.
Flock Talk
Coming off its first win of the season over Chestnut Hill before Thanksgiving, West Chester returned home on Saturday afternoon for its long awaited home opener vs No. 22/25 Jefferson. West Chester trailed early in the game, falling behind by as many as 12 points in the first quarter and was in an early hole at the end of the first but a second-quarter effort, which saw the Golden Rams outscore their guests 26-8 was enough for WCU to retake the lead and never trail again en route to the 86-81 victory.
Anna McTamney led the way as one of four players in double figures with 30 points while
Michelle Kozicki finished with 20 points and 13 rebounds to help lead the Golden Rams.
In the PSAC East Preseason Poll released by the league office on Thursday morning, West Chester was picked to finish fourth in the PSAC East. Kutztown earned the top spot in the poll with eight first-place votes followed by Bloomsburg, WCU, and Lock Haven to round out the top-five. Out West, California (Pa.), secured the top spot in the poll with six first-place votes followed by Gannon in second with three first-place votes of its own.
Kozicki registered her second double-double in as many games in the win over Jefferson on Saturday afternoon, finishing with career-highs in points (20) and rebounding (13). With that, West Chester has now had four double doubles on the season, including two (McAteer and Kozicki) vs Chestnut Hill. Registering two double doubles in the same game has been a rare feat for West Chester in recent years, turning the trick just once a year ago in the playoffs at Shepherd. Prior to this, West Chester had not achieved this feat since December 2017 vs Seton Hill, which was one of two times the Golden Rams did so during the 2017-18 season.
Kozicki and
Anna McTamney (Plymouth Meeting, Pa./Plymouth Whitemarsh) each turned in career days on Saturday afternoon the win over Jefferson as Kozicki set new caeer-highs in all four major categories with 20 points, 13 rebounds, three assists and a pair of steals while McTamney set career highs as well in points (30), and steals (3) while setting a new season-high in rebounding with six. These performances, coupled with a career-high 22 points from
Emily McAteer (Thornton, Pa./Garnet Valley) were key for West Chester as the ever dangerous
Leah Johnson (Columbus, N.J./Notre Dame) was limited offensively by the Jefferson defense. Despite limited scoring output from Johnson, she still nearly registered a double-double finishing with nine rebounds and nine assists to still help lead West Chester.
McTamney's career day moved her into first on the team in scoring, averaging 16.3 points per game while she also ranks second on the team in assists (1.8/g) and steals (1.5/g). McAteer, who also had a stellar day on Saturday setting a new career-high in scoring as well is second on the team in this category, averaging 14.5 points per game while also leading the team in rebounding, averaging 9.3 rebounds per game, which is tied for first with Kozicki, who enters play riding a two-game double double streak.
As a team, West Chester is averaging just north of 80 points per game (80.8) as the team is off to one of its best offensive starts in recent memory, thanks in large part to the historic 102-point effort on the opening weekend of the season vs West Virginia State. West Chester is shooting 47.0 % from the field and 36.7 % from beyond the arc, both of which rank in the top five in the PSAC. West Chester is currently 18
th in all of Division II and first in the PSAC in field-goal percentage while its 36.7 % three-point shooting percentage is third-best in the PSAC and 38
th best in all of Division II women's basketball. West Chester also ranks second in the league in rebounding margin at +4.5 (44.0-39.5), which ranks sixth in the PSAC, thanks in large part to an average of 28.5 defensive rebounds per game, which is second best in the PSAC, trailing only National Leader IUP.
Scouting Mercyhurst
Mercyhurst enters play riding a three-game (two official wins with an exhibition win over Buffalo in the middle) following a 96-61 thrashing of Roberts Wesleyan earlier in the week. The Lakers never trailed thanks in part to a 45.2 % field goal percentage along with a 54.3 % effort from deep and an impressive 91.7 % shooting performance from the line. Lexi Wagner led four Lakers in double figures with a game-high 23 points while Grace Clary, Paige Woodford, and Grace Centrulla all finished in double figures as well. In the exhibition win over reigning MAC Champion Buffalo, Julia Buchman and Centrulla led the way in scoring, finishing with 19 and 16 as it was an early fourth-quarter run, which gave Mercyhurst a late lead before the Lakers were able to ice the game at the free throw line down the stretch to pull the upset.
Wagner has been one of the more dangerous Lakers this season, ranking in a tie for second on the team in scoring, averaging 10.8 points per game while her 5.5 rebounds per game is second best on the squad as well. Grace Centrulla leads the team in rebounding, averaging 5.8 per game while its sophomore guard Danielle Grim who leads the team in scoring and assists, averaging 13.0 points and 3.3 assists per game.
Mercyhurst has had a hot start to the year offensively, averaging 86.8 points per game, outscring opponents by an average of nearly 13 points per contest while shooting 45.0 % from the field and 39.6 % from three-point territory. The Lakers have also made the most of their trips to the line, shooting 85.1 % from the stripe so far this season. Taking care of the basketball has been another key to the early season success of the Lakers, not only winning the rebounding battle by a +2.0 margin on the year but also winning the turnover battle by a +4.5 margin entering PSAC play.
Scouting Gannon
In a near opposite of its men's basketball counterpart, Gannon women's basketball (6-0) enters play as one of the hottest teams in the Region, ranked 15
th in all of DII women's basketball after sweeping a pair of games in Puerto Rico over Thanksgiving. Gannon has won all but one of its games by double digits with the lone single-digit win coming as a 83-77 win at Walsh in the first road game of the year for the Golden Knights. Before Gannon can worry about West Chester, the Golden Knights will first have to face a difficult Kutztown (1-4) team on Friday night inside Keystone Arena in a quest to remain unbeaten when they visit Hollinger on Saturday night.
Averaging 68.3 points per game, defense has been the calling card for Gannon so far this year, holding opponents to an average of just 53.3 points per contest on 35.1 % field goal shooting and 27.5 % three-point shooting. Creating havoc on the defensive end has worked well for Gannon this year, not only limiting opponents shooting percentages but also causing an average of 20.5 turnovers per game thanks in large part to 10.7 steals per game.
Samantha Pirosko and Emma Wright have been the leaders for Gannon this year, ranking first and second on the team in both scoring and rebounding, averaging 15.2 and 13.5 points per game and 7.5 and 6.3 rebounds per game, respectively. Wright has also played a role in facilitating the Golden Knights offense, dishing out an average of 2.3 assists per game, which is second only to Boston McKinney and her 4.7 dimes per contest.
Up Next
After play concludes on Saturday night vs Gannon, West Chester will remain home for the final home game of its homestand next Thursday evening vs Lincoln beginning at 5:30 p.m. as the first game of a non-league doubleheader in Hollinger.
