MILLERSVILLE, Pa.- After matching its season-long winning streak with its fourth victory in a row, the West Chester women's basketball team (11-7, 8-4) is set to return to action on Wednesday night at Millersville (10-8, 5-7) beginning at 5:30 p.m.
Series Information
Winners of three in a row, West Chester enters Wednesday night's matchup at Millersville tied in the all-time series with the Marauders at 47 wins each. West Chester swept the series a year ago and has won nine of the last 10, with the lone loss in that span coming on the road in the 2019-20 season.
A year ago, West Chester traveled to Millersville in need of a victory in its final two games, coupled with losses by Millersville and Mansfield down the stretch in order to make the Tournament. All of these things happened a year ago, beginning with an impressive 73-53 victory over the Marauders on February 23rd, never trailing and leading by as many as 20 late in the contest en route to the victory.
Leah Johnson led all scorers in the win with 19 points, while Alexis Abbonizio finished with 13, as did
Maya Carter, as the Golden Rams kept their Tournament hopes alive and evened the all-time series at 47-47.
Flock Talk
After a successful 3-0 road trip, the West Chester women's basketball team returned home on Monday night for a quick stop in Hollinger, dismantling Shepherd by a 94-47 final score.
Michelle Kozicki led the way with 20 points and nine rebounds, while
Leah Johnson narrowly missed a double-double of her own, finishing with 17 points, nine assists, and four steals in the victory. West Chester trailed only briefly in the first quarter before erasing the deficit and eventually stretching the lead to 47 points in a convincing 94-47 victory. This victory was WCU's second largest of the season, trailing only its win 51-point win over Wilmington in the non-league finale in December.
In the victory on Monday night, West Chester had five players score in double figures marking the second time in the four-game winning streak in which this has happened and the fourth time in the last five games in which WCU has had four or more players score in double figures. This offensive versatility, brought to the Golden Rams by the likes of Johnson, Kozicki,
Anna McTamney,
Emily McAteer, and Alexis Abbonizio, has been vital to the team's success this season with four of the five, averaging north of 13 points per game through 18 games on the year. As a team, West Chester remains near the top of the PSAC in many offensive categories, including scoring, remaining second in the PSAC in this category, averaging 76.5 points per game while also ranking second in the league in field-goal percentage 44.6 %.
Scouting Millersville
Millersville enters play following a loss in its most recent contest, a hard-fought 90-74 setback vs Shippensburg on Monday night. In the midst of the same difficult five games in a 10-day stretch as the Golden Rams, Millersville got out to an early lead, jumping ahead to a 22-16 advantage before Shippensburg rallied back, eventually closing the game out with a 34-24 fourth-quarter performance. Taylor Langan, who leads the team in most major categories, including scoring (13.9/g), rebounding (6.0/g), assists (2.6/g), and steals (2.2/g), led the way in scoring and rebounding last night, finishing with 19 points, including three made three-pointers and eight rebounds to help lead the Marauders. As a team, Millersville shoots 31.6 % from deep on the year and shot 50.0 % (6-of-12) from beyond the arc last night, thanks in large part to the three makes by Langan. Millersville also improved upon its field-goal percentage for the year last night with a 47.5 % shooting effort over the 42.6 % mark that the team has set to this point in the season. Similarly to West Chester, Millersville can rebound the basketball and ended Monday night's game with a 32-30 edge in rebounding, while the Marauders season averages remain 39.2-34.1 through 18 games.
Up Next:
West Chester returns to action on Saturday afternoon at home against Bloomsburg beginning at 2 p.m.
