PSAC Tournament Central
SHEPHERDSTOWN, W.V.- After a one-year absence from the PSAC Tournament, the West Chester women's basketball team, wanted to make clear to the Conference that missing the postseason would not be a habit under the tutelage of head coach
Kiera Wooden. With a pair of victories to conclude the regular season, including a thrilling second-half comeback victory over East Stroudsburg on Senior Day yesterday afternoon, West Chester accomplished this mission, punching its ticket to the PSAC Tournament as the sixth seed where the Golden Rams will visit third-seed Shepherd on Monday night with opening tip set for 6 p.m.
FAN INFORMATION
All tickets will be sold on-site at Hollinger Field House, with adult tickets being $10, while student tickets will be $5 with free admission being granted to students from PSAC Member Institutions with current, valid school ID. Additionally, there will be no complimentary tickets available for the game on Monday night.
SERIES INFORMATION
While West Chester has substantial history with most of its PSAC East opponents, Shepherd is notable exception to this as the Golden Rams and Rams have met just eight times dating back to the 2002-03 season as the Rams only recently joined the PSAC, with their first season in the league coming during the 2019-20 season. In the 2021-22 season, similarly to the 2019-20 season, Shepherd swept both meetings with West Chester, taking the first meeting in Shepherdstown by a 82-56 final before coming back to defeat West Chester in Hollinger just 48 hours later by a final of 65-47.
In the 2021-22 season, West Chester and Shepherd completed what can best be described as an unusual series, playing each other twice in the span of 48 hours in a home-at-home series, as a result of schedule changes earlier in the year. After a tough, 26-point loss at Shepherd on Monday night to open the series, West Chester returned home on Wednesday and gave Shepherd all it could handle in a narrow 65-47 setback. After a feeling out period to open the game, West Chester scored the first four points of the contest to take its largest lead of the game. This early advantage lasted for just over two minutes time before Shepherd retook the lead, en route to outscoring West Chester 21-11 in the opening frame. West Chester cut into the deficit in the second quarter, holding the high-powered Rams offense to just five points in the frame, while scoring eight points of its own to trail by just seven (26-19) heading into the halftime break. The third quarter was close once again as West Chester was outscored by just four in the period before Shepherd stretched its lead to as many as 18 points, en route to the 65-47 victory.
Leah Johnson led the team in scoring with 13 points while
Nancy Ruf had a career-night, ending with nine points, five rebounds, and two assists. West Chester shot just 29.1 % from the field and 19.0 % from deep while shooting 64.7 % from the line in the setback. For Shepherd, the PSACs leading scorer, Abby Beeman scored 18 points as one of three players in double figures, and two with a double-double for the Rams but also committed a game-high eight turnovers in an uncharacteristically sloppy effort from the nation's assist leader.
FLOCK TALK
On Saturday afternoon inside Hollinger Field House, West Chester honored its senior class prior to opening tip and this senior class would later help propel West Chester to a comeback victory over East Stroudsburg. West Chester struggled out of the gates, falling behind 15-5 after the first and 37-24 at the halftime break. In the second half, West Chester came out of the locker room a different team, opening the third on a 13-0 run to erase the halftime deficit and even the score at 37-37, en route to outscoring ESU 22-5 out of the break to take a 46-42 lead into the fourth quarter. In the fourth, the Golden Rams and Warriors traded makes as the game remained close until the end. East Stroudsburg hoisted a last second three pointer, which would have tied the game and forced overtime as time expired but the shot, to the delight of the Golden Ram faithful rimmed out, giving West Chester a narrow 63-60 comeback victory.
Sarah Holweg (West Pittston, Pa./Wyoming Area) made it clear she was not ready for her Golden Ram career to be over, turning a career-day with 15 points on 5-of-6 shooting while
Justyn Roberts (Harrisburg, Pa./C.D. East) finished with 13 and Johnson added 12 of her own in the victory.
With its offensive numbers, West Chester ranks squarely in the middle of the pack in the PSAC in scoring, averaging 60.3 points per game, which is 11
th in the league. Johnson has been a difference maker for West Chester throughout the year, ranking in the top five in the league in scoring (7
th-16.3 PPG), rebounding (T7-8.1), assists (3-4.9), and steals (1-3.1). Johnson is the only player in the PSAC to rank in the top 10 of all of these categories entering the PSAC Tournament and she has nine double-doubles to her credit, highlighting her good work throughout the season. In addition to the steady production of Johnson, West Chester has also turned
Alexa Abbonizio (Springfield, Pa./Springfield) with great frequency this season as the freshman guard has 14 games with double-digit scoring, averaging 10.1 points per game on the year.
Saturday afternoon's victory was the Golden Rams third comeback win of the season as six of the Golden Rams nine wins on the year have come when they have held a halftime lead, including perhaps the most convincing victory of the season over Millersville on Wednesday evening when West Chester raced out of the gates, taking a 23-13 lead at the end of the first en route to a convincing 73-53 victory over the Marauders.
SCOUTING SHEPHERD
For its part, Shepherd enters play on Monday evening following a victory over Mansfield on Saturday afternoon, which saw the Rams erase a deficit to come from behind and knock off the Mountaineers on their senior day, keeping Mansfield out of the postseason and allowing West Chester to find its way in. In this contest, Shepherd found itself trailing by six points at the break after being outscored by six in the first quarter but outscored the Mountaineers by nine in the second half (eight in the third quarter) to earn the comeback victory. Sydney Clayton was outstanding for Shepherd on Saturday afternoon, finishing with 34 points on 14-of-22 shooting to help bring Shepherd back in the regular season finale. Abby Beeman who has been a threat throughout the season, was uncharacteristically quiet on Saturday afternoon, scoring just two points from the line with 10 assists and four turnovers.
The 2021-22 season has been an impressive year for the Rams basketball program as Shepherd opened the year on a 10-game winning streak, which included two wins over top-10 opponents in Gannon and IUP before finally suffering its first loss of the year to Seton Hill in the final game of 2021. Since this game, Shepherd has mostly continued its winning ways, going 12-5 since and closing the year on a four-game winning streak. Shepherd has been at its most vulnerable when away from the Butcher Athletic Center, going 10-4 in road games as compared to an impressive 11-2 mark in home games on the season.
Beeman has been the first option for most of Shepherd's potent offense throughout the season, ranking second in the league in scoring, averaging 18.7 points per game as one of three Rams in the top-six in the league in scoring (Marley McLaughlin-5-16.9, Sydney Clayton-6-16.7) while also remaining atop all of Division II women's basketball in assists, averaging 7.7 per contest. Beeman also enters play ranked second in the league in steals, averaging 2.9 per game, which is second only to Johnson. As a team, Shepherd enters play averaging 69.8 points per game, which is the best in the PSAC thanks in large part to 44.1 % field-goal and 79.1 % free-throw shooting percentages, both of which rank second best in the PSAC at the end of the regular season.
WITH A WIN
With a victory on Monday evening, West Chester would visit Bloomsburg on Wednesday night in the PSAC Quarterfinals, a trip it is not unfamiliar with, having made the same trek for the Quarterfinals during its last PSAC Tournament appearance in 2018-19.
