WEST CHESTER, Pa.- For the first time since the 2018-19 season, the road to the PSAC Women's Basketball Championship will run through Hollinger Field House as West Chester (21-7, 18-4) prepares to host its first home playoff game since the 2018-19 season against Millersville (18-11, 12-10) on Wednesday night beginning at 5:30. Wednesday night's quarterfinal will also be the Golden Rams first home quarterfinal since the team hosted and defeated Kutztown at the end of the 2017-18 season, which was also the last time that West Chester won at least a share of the PSAC East Regular Season title prior to this year.
Fan Information
All tickets will be sold on-site at Hollinger Field House, with adult tickets being $10, while student tickets will be $5, with free admission being granted to students from PSAC Member Institutions with current, valid school ID. Additionally, no complimentary tickets will be available for the game on Wednesday night.
Series Information
West Chester enters play on Wednesday evening holding a 49-47 lead in the all-time series against Millersville after winning each of the last five meetings against the Marauders, including a 62-45 at home a week ago. 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. WCU has also now won 9 of the last 10 vs Millersville in the series.
West Chester is 5-6 against Millersville all-time in the PSAC Tournament, including a two-game winning streak against the Marauders dating back to the 2012 season. West Chester's last postseason loss against Millersville came in 2011 by a 70-65 final, while the Golden Rams last postseason matchup against Millersville was in 2019, a game which West Chester won 77-69. In this contest, Gabby Troisi became the third player in school history to record a triple-double and set a new PSAC Tournament assist record with 17 in the victory in what was also West Chester's last home playoff game before this season.
West Chester and Millersville met rather recently, having faced off against one another in this building just a week ago. In that meeting, West Chester never trailed as it was led offensively by a 20-point effort from
Leah Johnson, which along with a first quarter that saw West Chester outscore its guests 22-10, allowed the Golden Rams to cruise to the victory. This was similar to the first meeting between the two rivals this season, as West Chester held a 12-point (25-13) lead at the end of the first in that game as well.
Flock Talk
Traveling to Bloomsburg on Saturday with at least a share of the PSAC East Regular Season title in the balance, West Chester put forth one of its best defensive efforts against the Huskies in its history against its Eastern Division rivals, holding Bloomsburg to just 48 points, which is the fewest the team has allowed since at least the 1981-82 season. This defensive effort, combined with a 17-point effort by Johnson and a 16-point/11-rebound effort from Kozicki, allowed West Chester to cruise to a 60-48 win over Bloomsburg to end the regular season with a win.
For West Chester, the second half of the 2022-23 season has been nothing short of outstanding for the Purple and Gold as the team enters play riding a 14-game winning streak. This streak is the longest since the 2017-18 season, which was also the last time the Golden Rams won at least a share of the PSAC East Regular Season title. As one of the top five offenses in the league, averaging 73.3 points per game (tied with Shippensburg for third best), West Chester has used a balanced attack to get the job done throughout the 2022-23 season. Four different Golden Rams have scored in double figures at least 15 times this season, and out of those four, all of them have scored 20 or more points at least three times, with
Emily McAteer (Thornton, Pa./Garnet Valley) and Johnson, scoring 20 or more eight and five times, respectively.
West Chester, who had Johnson and McAteer record a triple and double-double in the same game earlier this year against Mansfield, becoming the first teammate duo to achieve this feat in a PSAC game in program history, has three players with five or more double-doubles this season, led by 11 from McAteer, 10 from Kozicki, and six from Johnson. This balance, combined with an impressive 44.0 % field goal percentage and a 76.6 % free-throw shooting effort on the year, made West Chester a difficult team to slow down throughout the 2022-23 season. West Chester has also been one of the top rebounding teams in the league throughout the year, entering the postseason, averaging 41.9 rebounds per game, including a league-best 28.4 defensive rebounds per game. West Chester has held its opponents to just 33.8 rebounds per game this season, entering play with a +8.1 rebounding margin on the year.
Scouting Millersville
Millersville enters play coming off a first-round victory over East Stroudsburg, which saw the Marauders use a late second-quarter run combined and a big third-quarter to pull away from East Stroudsburg and earn a 72-65 victory to advance back to the PSAC Quarterfinals. This is Millersville's first quarterfinal appearance under the tutelage of second-year coach Sharay Hall and is also the Marauders first appearance since the 2017-18 season. Taylor Langan led the way in scoring with 23 points and four steals, while Marin Miller came away with seven rebounds to help Millersville end the contest with a 36-24 advantage in the rebounding battle.
Langan has been a true constant for Millersville throughout the season, leading the team in most major categories, including scoring (15.7/g), rebounding (6.8/g), assists (2.9/g), and steals (2.6/g), while Miller is second on the team in both scoring and assists, averaging 11.2 points and 2.2 rebounds per game entering the Quarterfinals.
Tough defense has been a hallmark for Millersville this season and a significant key to success as the visiting Marauders force an average of 10.1 steals per game, which ranks second best in the PSAC, thanks in large part to Langan's 2.6 steals per game, which is best in the league. As a unit, Millersville enters play, averaging 67.2 points per game and allowing an average of 60.3, shooting 42.3 % from the field and 28.4 % from beyond the arc, while also pulling down 38.8 rebounds per game, while holding its opponents to 34.1 rebounds per game. In the two matchups earlier this season against West Chester, the rebounding battle was pretty even with the Golden Rams ending the game with a plus-two margin in the first meeting, while ending the second meeting tied with 38 rebounds apiece in what were both victories for head coach
Kiera Wooden's Golden Rams.
Up Next:
If West Chester can earn a victory over Millersville on Wednesday night, thus, ending the Marauders season in the postseason for the second time since the 2018-19 season, the Golden Rams will advance back to the PSAC Semifinals for the first time since the 2017-18 season. The PSAC women's basketball semifinals are set to be hosted by the highest remaining seed in the West this year, beginning on Saturday, March 4.
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