WEST CHESTER, Pa.- With the last week of the Regular Season now upon us, the West Chester women's basketball team (19-7, 16-5) must be cautious not to look too far ahead to potential postseason Tournament runs with two important regular-season games yet to be played, beginning with a matchup against third-place Millersville (16-10, 11-9) on Wednesday night in its Regular Season home finale.
Series Information
West Chester enters play on Wednesday evening holding a 48-47 lead in the all-time series against Millersville after winning each of the last four meetings against the Marauders, including a 71-63 win on the road in the first meeting this season. West Chester had trailed in the series for some time, finding itself behind 47-44, before the Golden Rams launched their winning streak to regain control of the series. West Chester has now won 9-of-10 over the Marauders dating back to the 2017-18 season.
In the first meeting, West Chester never trailed and led by as many as 17 late in the first (25-13 at the end of Q1) to roll to a 71-63 victory over the Marauders. Millersville attempted to mount a comeback during the remainder of the game, outscoring West Chester 20-19 in the second and 16-10 in the fourth, but the early lead proved to be enough for WCU to hold on for the victory.
Emily McAteer led the way for West Chester in this win, finishing with 23 points on 9-of-18 shooting along with 10 rebounds for her 10th double-double of the year.
Flock Talk
Winners off 11 in a row, West Chester nearly had this streak snapped by Lock Haven on Senior Day, turning in a difficult shooting performance throughout the game, which saw the Golden Rams shoot just 35.3 % and muster only 52 points (17 in the first half) to pick up a narrow 52-46 victory. Trailing at the half for just the third time this season, West Chester completed its first second-half comeback of the year, storming back in the second half with a 19-point third and 16 in the fourth, in essence doubling its first-half output in both the third and fourth to hold on for the win.
Emily McAteer logged her 11th double-double of the season, finishing with 10 points and 10 rebounds in the victory.
After its 12
th win in a row on Saturday afternoon, which improved the Golden Rams to 16-4 in PSAC play, West Chester remains in a solid position to capture its first PSAC East Regular Season crown since the 2017-18 season with a pair of wins this week. Shippensburg has kept pace with West Chester throughout the season, but an early season loss by the Raiders at Bloomsburg leaves the door open for West Chester to capture the Eastern Division crown with a pair of wins this week against Millersville and Bloomsburg on Saturday afternoon. West Chester, who appeared in the initial NCAA Atlantic Region rankings a week ago, also looks to continue to improve its positioning as the team looks to be one of eight teams in the Region to advance to the NCAA Tournament when it begins during the second week of March.
With her 11
th double-double of the year on Saturday, which was crucial to helping the Golden Rams overcome and upset-minded Lock Haven squad, McAteer has now recorded the most double-doubles in a single season by a Golden Ram since the 2017-18 campaign when Mia Hopkins ended the year with 12. McAteer remains first on the team in scoring, averaging 16.1 points per game, while sitting second on the team and fifth in the league in rebounding, averaging 8.5, trailing
Michelle Kozicki (Wilmington, Del./Padua), who is just ahead, averaging 8.6 per game.
Leah Johnson (Columbus, N.J./Notre Dame), who recently passed Colleen McNamara for first in single-season assists, now sitting atop the list with 180 on the year, recently completed another piece of history for West Chester as she earned Collegiate Sports Communicators (formerly COSIDA) Academic All-District honors. Johnson is the first Golden Ram to receive this prestigious award since current head coach
Kiera Wooden was honored in back-to-back years (2001-02, 2002-03).
Scouting Millersville
Millersville enters play following a loss on the road at Shippensburg on Wednesday evening by a 64-57 final. Millersville led by one at the half, but it was a fourth-quarter effort, which saw Shippensburg outscore its guests 18-11 to put the game away and earn a seven-point league win. Millersville outshot Shippensburg from the field, shooting 41.4 % (24-of-58) from the field but shot just 4-of-16 (25.0 %) from three and 5-for-9 (55.6 %) from the line while also ending the game with a 37-34 loss in the rebounding battle in the setback. Taylor Langan, who leads the team in most major statistical categories, did so again on Saturday, leading the way in scoring (nine), blocks (three), and steals (three) in the loss.
For the year, Langan, a graduate student guard from North Jersey, has been a standout of the resurgent Marauders under second-year head coach Sharay Hall, leading the team in scoring (15.2/g), rebounding (6.6/g), assists (2.9/g) and steals (2.6/g). Freshman guard Marin Miller is the other Marauder averaging in double figures on the year, scoring an average of 11.5 points per game while also averaging 2.3 assists per game, while sophomore guard Brenna Ortwein is second n the team in rebounding, averaging 5.3 rebounds per game. Miller was also one of two Marauders in double figures in the first meeting of the season between West Chester and Millersville, finishing with 11 points on 5-of-13 shooting, while La'Shyra Williams led the team in scoring with 14 points on 5-of-7 shooting and 4-for-6 effort at the line
Up Next:
West Chester returns to action at Bloomsburg on Saturday for its Regular Season finale beginning at 3 p.m. as the second game of the doubleheader inside Nelson Field House on Saturday afternoon.
