WEST CHESTER, Pa.- The West Chester women's basketball team returned home on Saturday afternoon in need of a victory to secure a spot in the PSAC Tournament. After falling behind early, West Chester stormed back in the second half, outscoring East Stroudsburg 39-23, including 22-5 in the third to earn a 63-60 comeback victory.
Saturday afternoon's game was also Senior Day for the Golden Rams as West Chester honored its six player senior class, which included
Bink Redman (York, Pa./William Penn), Tacari Talford (Robesonia, Pa./Conrad Weiser), Kyra Jefferson (Bethlehem, Pa./Freedom), Sarah Holweg (West Pittston, Pa./Wyoming Area), Justyn Roberts (Harrisburg, Pa./C.D. East), and Nancy Ruf (Fair Lawn, N.J./Fair Lawn).
As a result of West Chester's comeback victory and a comeback win by Shepherd on the road at Mansfield, the West Chester women's basketball team found its way into the PSAC Tournament as the sixth seed when the Tournament gets underway on Monday night.
After falling behind by as many as 17 points late in the first half, West Chester went on a 13-0 run over the first five minutes of the third quarter led by six points from Holweg during the run to help West Chester erase the halftime deficit, evening the score at 37-37 with 5:08 to play in the third. With 3:04 to play, East Stroudsburg scored its first points of the third period, cutting the West Chester lead to 41-40 late in the third quarter. At the end of the third, West Chester held a 46-42 lead heading into the fourth, after outscoring East Stroudsburg 22-5 out of the halftime break.
In the fourth quarter, West Chester and East Stroudsburg traded baskets as the Warriors climbed back into the contest, evening the score at 50-50 before West Chester held a narrow 52-50 lead with 4:54 to play in regulation. The remainder of the fourth quarter continued to be close throughout as the two sides traded makes but West Chester stiffened defensively, leading to a miss on the final shot of the game by East Stroudsburg, which would have forced overtime as time expired as West Chester earned a 63-60 senior day victory over East Stroudsburg.
In the first quarter, West Chester took an early 3-2 lead after a made three by Holweg but this would be the Golden Rams final lead of the half as East Stroudsburg closed the quarter on a 13-2 run to take a commanding 15-5 lead into the second quarter.
In the second quarter, West Chester worked to battle back into the game, outscoring ESU 19-17 over the course of the period, led by seven points from
Abby Penjuke (Collegeville, Pa./Methacton) to trim the deficit to 37-24 heading into the halftime break.
Holweg ended the game as the Golden Rams leading scorer with a career-high 15 points on an impressive 5-of-6 shooting from the field and three-point range while fellow senior Roberts and
Leah Johnson (Columbus, N.J./Notre Dame) added 13 and 12, respectively to lead West Chester in the comeback victory.
Ryan Weise turned in a stellar 30-point effort in the contest, going 11-of-18 from the field and 5-of-10 from beyond the arc to end the game as the leading scorer for both teams in the setback.
Despite a first quarter, which saw them shoot just 13.3 % from the field, West Chester turned its shooting around over the next three quarters, shooting 37.7 % from the field on the game thanks in part to a 52.9 % field-goal shooting performance in the third quarter comeback. West Chester also shot 33.3 % from deep and 73.3 % from the line while holding East Stroudsburg to 26.3 % from deep and 60.0% from the stripe in the setback.
West Chester ended the game with a 42-29 lead in rebounding, led by eight rebounds from Johnson while East Stroudsburg ended the game with a +6 edge in the turnover battle. This rebounding advantage also helped West Chester ended the game with a slim 10-9 advantage in second-chance points.
Following the victory this afternoon, West Chester will be back in action on Monday evening at Shepherd with that contest set to begin at a time yet to be announced.
