SHEPHERDSTOWN, W.V.-Riding a 10-game winning streak, the West Chester women's basketball team (17-7, 14-4) remains firmly in control of its postseason destiny entering the final two weeks of the regular season. Before West Chester can concern itself too much with postseason and what-if scenarios, the Golden Rams must first travel to Shepherd () for a matchup on Wednesday night beginning at 5:30 p.m.
Series Information
West Chester enters play on Wednesday night, trailing 7-3 in the all-time series against the PSAC's newest member; however, the Golden Rams did earn a convincing 94-47 win in the last meeting against the Rams earlier this season. West Chester is 0-3 at Shepherd over the course of these 10 meetings, a streak the Golden Rams will look to halt on Wednesday night.
West Chester trailed early, falling behind 7-0 in the early stages before evening the score at 21-21 late in the quarter, eventually carrying a 25-21 lead into the second. This slim lead is all the separation the Golden Rams would need to pull away, stretching the lead to 48-31 at the half before outscoring Shepherd 46-16 in the second half to roll to the 94-47 victory. West Chester held Shepherd below 10 points in both the third (7) and fourth (9) quarters, combined with a 20-point effort by
Michelle Kozicki and 17 from
Leah Johnson, led WCU to the convincing win, which was its fourth in a row at the time.
Flock Talk
Looking to extend its winning streak to 10 games in a row, the West Chester women's basketball team returned to action on Wednesday night against East Stroudsburg. West Chester never trailed in the win, pulling ahead early and not relinquishing the lead, leading by as many as 23 late in the fourth en route to the 72-54 victory. West Chester dominated inside, outscoring ESU 38-24 in the paint, which proved critical to helping West Chester earn the victory.
Michelle Kozicki recorded another double-double, finishing with 17 points and 13 rebounds, while
Emily McAteer added 17 of her own as two of four Golden Rams in double figures.
As West Chester stretched its winning streak from eight to 10 games a week ago, West Chester also punched its ticket to the PSAC Tournament, residing comfortably in second place in the PSAC East standings with the chance to ascend to the top in the final two weeks of the regular season. Tied with Shippensburg, whom West Chester earned an important split against last Monday night, West Chester needs only to capture each of its last four games of the regular season (two home, two away) to keep itself positioned nicely for a chance to capture its first PSAC East Regular Season title since the 2017-18 season.
Kozicki, who earned PSAC East Athlete of the Week honors last week with a pair of double-doubles against Kutztown and Mansfield, showed no signs of slowing down last week, registering two more double-doubles, including a 17-point and 13-rebound effort vs East Stroudsburg to help West Chester continue its winning ways. Kozicki, who was one of five transfers that joined the team this year, has been on fire over the last four games, averaging 19.8 points per game to go along with 12.5 rebounds and 3.3 steals per game. This stellar stretch has allowed Kozicki to tie
Anna McTamney for third in scoring, averaging 14.0 points per game, while also tying
Emily McAteer for first on the team and fifth in the team the league in rebounding, averaging 8.5 rebounds per game.
Scouting Shepherd
Shepherd, a team that enjoyed one of the most meteoric rises in recent memory in recent years, going from an 11-18 squad in 2018-19 to going 48-17 over the previous three years (2019-22), has encountered difficult times this season with a very young team and a new head coach at the helm. Shepherd earned its first victory of the season a week ago, picking up a 73-67 home win over Mansfield last Wednesday, and enters play this Wednesday night following a loss at the hands of Bloomsburg on Saturday afternoon.
On Saturday, Shepherd was within a point at the end of the first quarter and outscored its guests by eight in the fourth, but it was a difficult second quarter, which proved costly to the young Rams squad. Megan Shipley led the way in this contest, finishing with the team-high in points (19), assists (4), and steals (3), but it was not quite enough to help her team overcome a 40.6 % field-goal shooting effort, lowered by an 18.8 % (3-of-16) effort from beyond the arc in the setback.
For the year, Shipley is second on the team in scoring, averaging 9.0 points per game, which is just shy of the team-best 9.2 points per game average of Sydney Bolles, while leading the team in assists (2.0/g) and steals (1.2/g), entering the final two weeks of the season. In addition to the offensive burst provided by Bolles, a 5-9 sophomore combo guard, she also leads the team in rebounding, corralling an average of 5.8 rebounds per game. Sophomore forward Neresha Miller led the way in rebounding on Saturday afternoon, coming away with 11, while ranking in a tie for second on the team on the season, averaging 4.7 per game.
Up Next:
West Chester returns to action on Saturday afternoon at home against Lock Haven beginning at 1 p.m. in what will also be Senior Day for West Chester, with pregame ceremonies beginning at approximately 12:45.
