WEST CHESTER, Pa.- Riding its longest winning streak since the 2017-18 season, the West Chester women's basketball team (13-7, 10-4) is finishing its preparations for its next opponent on Wednesday night as Kutztown (10-10, 8-6) visits Hollinger for a 5:30 p.m. start.
Series Information
After dropping each of the last five meetings, West Chester finds itself holding a shrinking 46-37 lead over the Golden Bears. West Chester's last win in the series came in February 2019 with a 64-53 win at home over Kutztown, which was part of a streak that saw WCU win four-of-five over Kutztown.
West Chester appeared as if it might halt the losing streak at Kutztown earlier this season, erasing a six-point first-quarter deficit to carry a 33-32 lead into the halftime break. This lead vanished as quickly as it appeared as Kutztown outscored West Chester by 17 in the second half to earn a 73-57 win over the Golden Rams.
Emily McAteer led the way with 19 points, while
Leah Johnson added 17 to go along with a 14-point outing by
Anna McTamney in the setback.
Flock Talk
After matching its longest winning streak since the 2018-19 season with a win over Millersville on Wednesday night, West Chester returned to action vs Bloomsburg on Saturday afternoon. The Golden Rams trailed by two for just 23 seconds and held the lead the rest of the way, leading by as many as 12 early in the fourth quarter; however, the game remained close throughout. The largest margin in which West Chester outscored its guests in a quarter was 14-9 in the second, with a margin of +3 in the first and +2 in the third, while the fourth ended even at 17-17. The consistent effort by the Golden Rams defense to go along with a game-high 21 by
Leah Johnson was enough to allow West Chester to pick up a big PSAC East win over Bloomsburg by a 66-56 final.
The Golden Rams starting five continues to impress and has been a major key to the team's success throughout the year, with four of the five averaging in double figures on the year, led by
Emily McAteer (Thornton, Pa./Garnet Valley), who leads the team in scoring, averaging 16.2 points per game and double-doubles with 10 along with
Leah Johnson (Columbus, N.J./Notre Dame) who is third in scoring, averaging 15.1 points per game while also ranking third in the nation in assists, averaging 7.4 per game. In addition to the efforts, McAteer, Johnson,
Anna McTamney (Plymouth Meeting, Pa./Plymouth Whitemarsh) (second on the team in scoring, averaging 15.6 per game) and
Michelle Kozicki (Wilmington, Del./Padua) (fourth on the team in scoring, averaging 12.8 per game), Springfield natives
Alexa Abbonizio (Springfield, Pa./Springfield) and
Rachel Conran (Springfield, Pa./Springfield) have been making major impacts off the bench for the Golden Rams. Abbonizio is fifth on the team in scoring, averaging 5.2 points per game, while also sitting in a tie for third in made threes with 16 on the year, while Conran has turned in a great stretch of play in the last four games for West Chester. In the last four games, all of which were wins for the Golden Rams, Conran has contributed an average of 5.8 points per game, 4.0 rebounds per game, five assists, and four steals, providing the Golden Rams with an excellent spark off the bench. The sophomore turned in an outstanding effort in the win over Shepherd back on January 23
rd, finishing with a season-high eight points, six rebounds, three steals, and two assists in the victory.
Scouting Kutztown
Kutztown enters play off a victory in its most recent game, a dominant 63-30 win over Shepherd, which halted a three-game losing streak that had seen the Golden Bears fall to Shippensburg, East Stroudsburg, and Bloomsburg, whom West Chester is 2-1 against so far this year. Kutztown had 11 players score in the victory, led by a 13-point effort from Casey Remolde as the Golden Bears got out to an early lead, holding Shepherd to just seven first-half points en route to the 33-point triumph. Kutztown shot 39.2 % from the field in this win and 38.5 % from beyond the arc while also getting 27 points from its bench, led by 10 points from Leila Hurley and nine from Abby Hearn.
The duo of Hearn and Remolde have been the offensive leaders for Kutztown this year, ranking first and second on the team in scoring, averaging 11.9 and 10.9 points per game, respectively. In addition to her 10.9 points per game, Remolde also leads the team in rebounding, averaging 5.8 per game while ranking second in assists (2.2/g) and steals (1.2/g) trailing Zara Zerman in both categories as she averages 2.8 assists and 1.5 steals per game on the year.
As a team, Kutztown enters play averaging 60.4 points per game but holding opponents to an average of just 56.3 points per game, including holding the high-scoring Golden Rams to just 57 inside Keystone Arena earlier this season. Kutztown shoots just 39.0 % from the field and 35.0 % from three-point range but makes up the difference with a strong 76.3 % free throw shooting percentage and a slim 0.3 (35.8-35.5) advantage on the glass entering the final month of the regular season.
Up Next:
West Chester returns to action on Saturday afternoon at Mansfield beginning at 1 p.m. before heading to Shippensburg on Monday night for a 6 p.m. tip in its second and final Monday night matchup of the regular season.
