WEST CHESTER, Pa.- The West Chester women's basketball team (7-15, 5-11) will look to halt a two-game losing streak on Monday evening when it welcomes Shippensburg (14-10, 10-8) to Hollinger Field House for the middle game of a three-game homestand.
FAN INFORMATION
As a reminder, all spectators, regardless of vaccination status, are required to wear a mask when attending any indoor athletic contests inside Hollinger Field house, the Sturzebecker Health Science Center, or the Graham Natatorium. Masking by all spectators in attendance creates the safest possible atmosphere for the student-athletes, coaches, staff, team representatives, officials, and all other spectators.
SERIES INFORMATION
West Chester and Shippensburg have met 61 times dating back to the 1982-83 season, while Shippensburg won each of the first three games in the all-time series against the Golden Rams, West Chester holds a narrow 32-29 lead in the all-time series thanks in large part to an eight-game winning streak from 2009-2012. In recent times, the series has been fairly even as the Raiders and Golden Rams have split the last two season series with each team picking up a home victory in the 2018-19 and 2019-20 seasons and Shippensburg winning its home game earlier this season.
LAST TIME THEY MET
In a story that has become all too familiar for the Golden Rams this season, West Chester found itself in a 18-2 hole early in the game before battling back to take a two-point lead into the fourth quarter of play after outscoring Shippensburg 16-8 in the third. West Chester and Shippensburg traded makes early in the fourth, but West Chester went cold late, going 1-for-16 from the field over the last eight minutes of the contest as Shippensburg, who did not fare much better was able to slip past the Purple and Gold for a 63-58 home victory.
Leah Johnson (Columbus, N.J./Notre Dame) was one of three Golden Rams in double figures with 15 points and 13 rebounds for her seventh double-double of the year while
Kyra Jefferson (Bethlehem, Pa./Freedom) and
Bink Redman (York, Pa./William Penn) added 11 and 10 points, respectively. As a team, West Chester shot just 32.4 % from the field and 19.0 % from deep on the night, however, the Golden Rams did manage to shoot a solid 88.9 % from the line in the setback.
West Chester, who is looking for a victory to avoid a sweep this evening is 1-2 in such games this season, defeating Mansfield last Monday evening inside Hollinger Field House while falling to Shepherd and Bloomsburg inside Hollinger in the second game of each of those sets.
FLOCK TALK
Following a similar pattern to its game at Shippensburg on Wednesday evening, West Chester found itself down early, trailing 21-10 after the first quarter for the second game in a row, before attempting to climb back against Bloomsburg on Saturday afternoon. West Chester managed to outscore its guests in two of the next three quarters (13-11 in the second, 18-17 in the fourth) but the early deficit was too much to overcome in a 67-55 loss vs the Huskies on Saturday afternoon.
Leah Johnson and
Alexa Abbonizio (Springfield, Pa./Springfield) tied for team-lead in scoring, finishing with 12 points each while Bloomsburg was led by 18 points from Meghan Corridoni. West Chester, who ranks in the top five in the league (4th overall/3rd in the East) did not have a single free-throw attempt in the first half before going 10-of-12 from the stripe in the second half of the setback.
Abbonizio has been a consistent force for West Chester throughout her 2021-22 rookie season, scoring in double figures in 11 games for West Chester, including tying for the team-high in scoring with 12 points on Saturday afternoon vs Bloomsburg. Following this 12-point effort, Abbonizio is now second on the team in scoring, averaging 9.9 points per game while also ranking third on the team in rebounding (3.2/G), and assists (1.4/G) entering the final weeks of the regular season.
The Golden Ram bench has been a key to success throughout the year as five of the team's seven victories have come when the bench has outscored the opposing bench. Additionally, West Chester's bench has outscored its opponents 184-116 over the last seven games (including a 24-2 advantage at Shippensburg last Wednesday night).
SCOUTING SHIP
Shippensburg visited Lock Haven on Saturday afternoon looking to keep its momentum going following a victory over West Chester at home on Wednesday evening. Shippensburg fell behind early in this contest, trailing by 10 at the halftime break after being outscored 12-6 in the first quarter en route to a 57-45 loss at Lock Haven.
Destiny Jefferson played the full 40 minutes for Shippensburg, leading the team in scoring with 20 points and six rebounds while Lauren Mills added 12 of her own as the other Raider in double figures. 45 points is Shippensburg third lowest offensive output of the year, just ahead of a 43-point effort at ESU and 42 points in a home loss vs Millersville.
Destiny Jefferson has been the offensive leader for the Raiders throughout the season, leading the team in scoring, averaging 17.0 points per game while also leading the team in assists, averaging 3.4 per game entering the stretch run of the regular season. Jefferson also ranks first on the team in steals, averaging 2.0 steals per game while also residing in third on the team in rebounding, averaging 4.7 rebounds per game.
Shippensburg enters play with a mark of 14-10 overall although the Raiders have been far more dangerous in games played inside Heiges Field House as compared to games played on the road, going 11-4 at home and just 3-6 on the road, including recent road losses at Lock Haven and East Stroudsburg.
UP NEXT
West Chester will conclude its homestand on Wednesday evening at home against Kutztown beginning at 5:30 p.m.
