WEST CHESTER, Pa.- Following a road setback at Kutztown on Saturday, the West Chester women's basketball team (7-6, 4-3) will look to get back on track vs Shippensburg (11-2, 6-1) inside Hollinger Field House on Wednesday night with opening tip set for 5:30 p.m.
Series Information
West Chester enters play on Wednesday night looking to bounce back and halt a three-game losing streak vs Shippensburg in what will be the team's final home game for nearly two weeks. West Chester holds a 35-30 lead in the all-time series between the two rivals but has not earned a victory since the first meeting of the 2019-20 season, a 65-62 victory on January 8, 2020.
West Chester and Shippensburg met twice a year ago, with single-digit losses in both meetings for the Golden Rams. In the second meeting of the year, inside Hollinger Field House, West Chester trailed by 15 at the half but nearly came all the way back to even the score late in the fourth behind an 18-point second-half effort from
Alexa Abbonizio; however, Shippensburg was able to hold on for a narrow 71-64 victory. Abbonizio finished with 22 points to lead the Golden Rams in scoring, while
Leah Johnson came away with 19 of her own in the setback.
Flock Talk
Looking to run its winning streak to three in a row, the West Chester women's basketball team took the trip up 422 to face Kutztown on Saturday afternoon, falling to the Golden Bears by a 73-57 final. After trailing throughout the first quarter, West Chester opened the second period on a 10-0 run, which allowed the team to take a one-point lead into the half. West Chester maintained its lead until the midway point of the third when Kutztown surged back to retake the lead and eventually pull away for a 16-point win over the Golden Rams.
Emily McAteer led the way with 19 points, while
Leah Johnson added 17 of her own, along with seven rebounds and six assists in the setback.
In the first PSAC women's basketball weekly awards of 2023, after the awards were not handed out a week ago due to the Holiday and most teams in the league playing just one game in the weeks prior due to the Dead Period,
Leah Johnson (Columbus, N.J./Notre Dame) earned the first PSAC East Defensive Player of the Week honor of the New Year, following a stellar run of play in the Golden Rams first three games back from the Holiday Break. Over the three games, Johnson averaged 16.3 points, 7.6 rebounds, 7.0 assists, and four steals per game, including just the fourth triple-double in school history, helping lead West Chester to a 2-1 record over that span. Johnson and teammate
Emily McAteer (Thornton, Pa./Garnet Valley) also did something that no other teammate duo has accomplished under the tenure of head coach
Kiera Wooden in the win over Mansfield a week ago, with Johnson registering a triple-double while McAteer came away with a double-double of her own in the victory over the Mounties.
Averaging 77.0 points per game, West Chester remains the top offensive unit in the PSAC East, ranking third in the PSAC overall, shooting 43.9 % from the field through 13 games. West Chester also continues to do a nice job n the glass, coming away with an average of 42.5 rebounds per game, with three players averaging north of 7.0 rebounds per game (McAteer-9.4, Kozicki-7.8, Johnson-7.6) while the team ranks third in the league and second in the East in rebounding, trailing only Shippensburg and IUP.
Scouting Shippensburg
Shippensburg enters play riding a three-game winning streak with a record of 11-2 overall and 6-1 in league action. Ariel Jones, who recently set the PSAC mark for career free throws made, turned in another stellar effort in the win over Edinboro over the weekend, finishing with 29 in the victory. In the win over Edinboro, Shippensburg trailed by two at the half before pulling away in the second half, outscoring its opponents by 10 in the third and three in the fourth en route to a high-scoring 93-82 victory. Shippensburg shot 44.8 % from the field and 42.9 % from deep, both of which are well above their season averages of 40.3 % and 31.0 % while also winning the rebounding battle by 14 thanks in large part to a 20-rebound performance by Lauren Pettis.
Jones, the reigning PSAC East Athlete of the Week, leads the way for Shippensburg in a host of categories, including scoring (22.6 points/g), assists (2.2/g), and steals (2.4/g), while Pettis leads the team in rebounding, averaging 9.8/g and ranks third on the squad in scoring, averaging 11.7 points per game. Jones is second on the team in rebounding, averaging 6.8 per game, while Treasure George, who is second on the team in scoring, averaging 12.3 points per game, also ranks third on the squad in rebounding, averaging 6.2 per game.
Up Next:
West Chester returns to action on Saturday afternoon at Clarion beginning at 1 p.m. in the first of a three-game road trip, which will see West Chester remain away until Monday the 23
rd vs Shepherd.
