BLOOMSBURG, Pa.-The West Chester women's basketball team (20-7, 17-4) travels to Bloomsburg (9-16, 7-14) on Saturday afternoon for a 3 p.m. start with a simple goal in mind- earn a road win over the Huskies and win its first PSAC Eastern Division crown since the 2017-18 season. A PSAC East Regular Season title would be a fitting end to a tremendous 2022-23 regular season for West Chester, which has seen the Golden Rams not only double their win total from a year ago and break single-season records but also put itself in a strong position to return to the NCAA Tournament. Currently ranked fifth in the Atlantic Region and in the midst of a 13-game winning streak, West Chester has been firing on all cylinders since the calendar turned to 2023.
Series Information
West Chester enters play on Saturday, trailing 45-41 in the all-time series after halting a three-game losing streak to the Huskies earlier this season. With the win at the end of January, West Chester has now split the last 10 meetings all-time against Bloomsburg. West Chester has had better fortunes at home against Bloomsburg than it has on the road in recent years, playing to a mark of 10-6 at home vs 5-10 on the road since 07-08.
In the first meeting, West Chester never trailed for less than 30 seconds, finding itself behind by a pair late in the first quarter before answering back quickly with a 5-0 run to close out the first with a 19-14 lead, eventually stretching the advantage to as many as 12 in the fourth on the way to a 66-56 victory over the Huskies.
Leah Johnson led the way in scoring with 21 points, eight assists, and five rebounds, while
Emily McAteer had 15, and
Anna McTamney finished with 11.
Flock Talk
Winners off 12 in a row, West Chester had little difficulty making it 13 wins in a row on Wednesday night. Jumping out to an early lead and never trailing in a 62-45 win over Millersville in the Regular Season home finale.
Leah Johnson led all scorers with 20 points on 8-of-18 shooting to go along with five rebounds and five assists, while
Emily McAteer narrowly missed a double-double, finishing with 14 points, eight rebounds, four assists, and four steals.
West Chester, who has not qualified for the NCAA Tournament since its 2017-18 PSAC East Regular Season title season, was ranked fifth in the Second set of Atlantic Regional rankings released by the Division II women's basketball committee on Wednesday night. Fifth is the highest West Chester has been seeded in the NCAA Tournament since the field expanded to its current 64-team size in 2003. West Chester was a top-two seed twice, appearing this high in both 1997 and 2001; however, the field was limited just 48 teams in each of those two seasons.
Johnson, who broke the single-season assist record (172-Colleen McNamara-1989-90) earlier this month, is in the midst of a tremendous 2022-23 season, averaging 15.2 points and 6.9 rebounds per game to go along with an average of 6.3 rebounds per contest. Johnson remains third in Division II in assists while also ranking first in the PSAC in assists entering the regular season's final day. Additionally, Johnson continues to take care of business in the classroom, recently earning Collegiate Sports Communicators Academic All-District honors, becoming the first women's basketball player to be recognized with this honor since head coach
Kiera Wooden was honored in back-to-back years (2001-02, 02-03).
In addition to the efforts of Johnson, McAteer ranks first on the team in scoring, averaging 15.8 points per game; McAteer ranks in a tie for first on the team and in a tie for fifth in the league in rebounding, corralling an average of 8.5 rebounds per game with 11 double-doubles on the season, which ranks her third in the PSAC in double-doubles. McAteer's 11th double-double of the year on Saturday allowed her to pass Johnson's 10 from a year ago and now ranks second behind only Hopkins, who had 12 in 2017-18. McAteer is also one of just 29 players in all of Division II women's basketball and one of six in the Atlantic Region to register 10 or more double-doubles already this season.
Scouting Bloomsburg
Bloomsburg, who recently learned that it would miss the PSAC Tournament for the first time since the 2008-09 season, enters play following a 53-47 loss at the hands of Kutztown on Wednesday night. Bloomsburg trailed by just one after the first quarter and outscored its foes by three in the fourth but was outscored by a combined eight points in the second and third quarters in a six-point setback. Bloomsburg shot 36.2 % from the field and 28.6 % from deep (4-of-14) in the setback, which, along with 16 turnovers and a loss in the rebounding battle, proved too much to overcome Wednesday night. Katie Starr, who ranks first on the team in scoring and rebounding, averaging 10.4 points and 7.1 rebounds per game, led the way again on Wednesday night, finishing with 11 points and eight rebounds in the setback. Emma Gochnauer, second on the team in scoring (9.3/g) and rebounding (4.9/g), leads the team in assists this season, averaging 2.5 per game, and led the team again on Wednesday night, finishing with seven in the loss.
Bloomsburg's calling card this season has been its defense, as the Huskies shoot just 39.6 % from the field and 33.9 % from deep on the year, averaging just under 60 points per game; however, the defense has done a good job of limiting opponents as well, holding them to just 62.5 points per game, thanks to a 28.4 % opposing three-point shooting percentage on the year. Bloomsburg has also been effective on the glass throughout the year, averaging 37.3 rebounds per game, with a +3.8 advantage in this category on the season.
Up Next:
West Chester will have a bye on Monday evening and host a PSAC Quarterfinal for the first time since the 2017-18 season on Wednesday night beginning at 5:30.
