WEST CHESTER, Pa.- The West Chester women's basketball team (6-13, 4-9 PSAC) is set to begin another busy week of conference action, beginning on Monday evening at home against PSAC East rival Mansfield as the Golden Rams will look to avenge an overtime loss at Mansfield back on January 29
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Fan Information
Additionally, as part of West Chester's continued celebration of West Chester athletics has also announced that for Monday evening's game vs Mansfield beginning at 5:30, all female students (includes k-12), will be admitted to the game free of charge with the purchase of an adult ticket.
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 Mansfield are no strangers to one another, however, the Golden Rams have had the upper hand in the series by a considerable margin, entering play with an overall record of 63-11 against the Mountaineers. West Chester entered the season having won each of the last 20 meetings vs the Mountaineers and going 25-1 since the 2007-08 season. This streak was snapped at Mansfield near the end of January as Mansfield stunned the Golden Rams in overtime to halt the 20-game losing streak.
West Chester enters play on Monday evening looking to exact revenge following a hard-fought loss at Mansfield on the road near the end of January. which saw the Golden Rams lead only briefly in the first half before trailing by 18 points entering the fourth quarter. In the fourth, West Chester made sure to not go down quietly, outscoring its hosts 25-7 over the final period, capped off by a clutch layup from Roberts as time expired to force overtime. Roberts, who forced overtime gave the Golden Rams the lead to open overtime, marking the first time the team had led since late in the first quarter, but this would be the team's final lead of the game as the Mountaineers closed the game on a 13-7 run to escape with a 70-66 upset victory.
Leah Johnson (Columbus, N.J./Notre Dame) led the Golden Rams in scoring with 24 points to cap off an impressive week of basketball for the sophomore guard as she narrowly missed her third double-double of the week, ending with eight rebounds, four assists, and seven steals in the setback. As a team, West Chester shot just 32.5 % from the field with its best shooting effort coming during the fourth-quarter comeback when the Golden Rams shot 50.0 % from the field to erase the deficit and force overtime.
Flock Talk
After a feeling out period to open the game, West Chester scored the first four points of hte 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.
The Golden Ram bench has been a key to success throughout the year as four of the team's six victories have come when the bench has outscored the opposing bench. Additionally, West Chester's bench has outscored its opponents 119-68 over the last five games. Taking an early lead has been key for the Golden Rams this season as five of the Golden Rams six wins on the year have come after the Golden Rams have held a halftime lead. The only contest in which they erased a halftime deficit to come back and win was against Millersville, when they trailed by two points at the break in that game.
Sophomore guard/forward combo
Abby Penjuke (Collegeville, Pa./Methacton) has been making an impact on the court for the Golden Rams throughout her first season wearing the purple and gold, starting in every game she has played in this season, averaging 4.4 points and 5.1 rebounds per game to help support the Golden Rams. While the Golden Rams women's basketball season is entering the stretch run with just a few weeks of games left to be played before the PSAC Tournament, Penjuke's athletic year is still in the early stages as she will transition off the hardwood onto the softball field as a member of the ninth-ranked West Chester softball team, which played to a record of 1-3 to open the season this past weekend.
Mansfield Mentions
Mansfield dropped its second game in a row on Saturday afternoon at Shippensburg, settling for a split in the season series vs the Raiders. In this game, Mansfield started off slowly in the scoring column, shooting just 6-of-19 through the opening quarter as Shippensburg built an early 19-12 lead after the first quarter of play. Mansfield bounced back in the second, outscoring Shippensburg 12-10 but it was not enough to overcome the early deficit as the Mounties were outscored 36-23 in the second half in the 65-47 setback on Saturday afternoon. Jasmine Hilton and Logan Nutt each finished in double figures with 13 and 12 points, respectively while Paige Whitfield came away with a team-high six rebounds. For the game, Mansfield shot just 32.8 % (20-of-61) from the field and 8.3 % (1-of-12) from three-point range while also shooting just 54.5 % (6-of-11) from the stripe in the setback.
Mansfield, who enters play with a mark of 6-13 overall has proven itself to be an opponent not to be taken lightly after defeating the Golden Rams in overtime in the first meeting. As a unit, Mansfield is averaging 53.3 points per game on 31.5 % shooting from the field and 24.8 % shooting from deep. One area in which Mansfield has done well this year, is that of turnovers, consistently winning the turnover battle, entering play with a +1.4 advantage in this category. Individually, Jasmine Hilton and Paige Whitfield have been two of the most consistent players for Mansfield, ranking first and second on the team in scoring, averaging 12.4 and 9.9 points per game while Hilton leads in rebounding with 8.0 rebounds per game and Whitfield leads in assists, averaging 3.0 per game.
Up Next
West Chester will return to action on Wednesday afternoon on the road at Shippensburg before returning home to host Bloomsburg on Saturday afternoon.
