WEST CHESTER, Pa.- Following a win over Shippensburg on Monday night, West Chester (16-7, 13-4) is preparing to play its third game in five days against East Stroudsburg (13-10, 9-8), marking the second and final time in the regular season that the Golden Rams will have to navigate this busy stretch of games.
Series Information
West Chester enters play on Wednesday night, holding an 81-33 lead in the all-time series against East Stroudsburg. Following a win over the Warriors on the road earlier this season, West Chester has now won three in a row in the series and six of the last 10 against the Warriors.
West Chester never trailed in the first meeting between the two rivals, opening the game up on a 12-0 run and never looking back, eventually leading by as many as 30 in the fourth quarter to earn the PSAC East victory, which was its third in a row at the time.
Leah Johnson was the story for West Chester on this night, entering the game needing just six points to score her 1,000th career point and taking care of that early in the game before going off for 21 points to go along with 11 assists while
Emily McAteer joined her with a 20-point double-double, finishing with 20 points and 10 rebounds in the victory. West Chester also did an excellent job of limiting Ryan Weise in this victory, thereby limiting the ESU offense, holding the grad student DI transfer to just 12 points on 5-of-14 shooting as the lone Warrior in double figures.
Flock Talk
Looking to extend its winning streak to nine games in a row, the West Chester women's basketball team returned to action on Monday evening at Shippensburg. West Chester trailed for much of the night but stayed within striking distance, never trailing by more than seven after the first quarter. West Chester tied the game at the half and was within four at the end of the third, setting the team up for arguably its best fourth-quarter effort of the season, outscoring Shippensburg 31-17, including a 10-0 run to close out the game and earn an 80-70 victory.
Leah Johnson, who had 13 in the fourth, finished with 32 points, while
Maya Carter, who had eight in the fourth, finished with 12. PSAC East Athlete of the Week,
Michelle Kozicki, also turned in a stellar night, finishing with 18 points and 11 rebounds for her third double-double in as many games.
West Chester has earned five PSAC East Player of the Week awards already this season, surpassing the combined total (2) of the previous two years.
Anna McTamney was the first to earn a weekly honor, capturing PSAC East Defensive Player of the Week recognition following the first crossover weekend of the year, while
Emily McAteer and
Leah Johnson swept the honors earlier in the year as well. McAteer earned Player of the Week honors, averaging a double-double over the two non-league games (23 PPG/10 RPG), while Johnson averaged 13.0 points per game, 5.0 rebounds (4.5 defensive rebounds), and 2.5 steals per game to help lead WCU defensively. This sweep was the first time WCU has swept the weekly honors since Madison Torresin and Zhane Snow did it during the 2018-19 season. Johnson was the first repeat Athlete of the Week selection of the year, earning Defensive Athlete of the Week honors earlier in the year as well, following a stellar three-game stretch, which saw her average (16.3 PPG/7.6 RPG/7.0 APG/4.0 SPG), including the fourth triple-double in school history.
Michelle Kozicki was the most recent Golden Ram to earn the award, following a week with two double-doubles, which saw her average 22 points and 13 rebounds per game to help the Golden Rams continue their winning ways.
Scouting East Stroudsburg
East Stroudsburg enters play on Wednesday night following a win of its own, a 52-42 win over Bloomsburg on Monday evening. Defense was the storyline in this win as East Stroudsburg did not have a player score in double figures, as the team was led offensively by a nine-point effort from Ryan Weise, but the Warriors were able to hold the Huskies under 10 points in each of the first three quarters. This early defensive effort allowed ESU to withstand a fourth-quarter comeback effort by the Huskies, which saw both teams score 15 points, the highest-scoring quarter for either team in the game in the final 10 minutes of regulation. As a team, ESU connected on 20-of-48 (48.8 %) of its field-goal attempts in the win, despite going just 1-for-6 from beyond the arc. ESU also ended the game with a 27-20 lead in the turnover battle, which helped the Warriors withstand a -14 loss in the rebounding category and their 16.7 % three-point shooting effort in the PSAC East clash.
Despite a nearly 16-point-per-game scoring average by Weise, the defense has been the key to success for East Stroudsburg this year as the grad student guard is the lone player on the team to average in double figures with her Warriors, averaging under 60 points per game on the season. ESU has made this low-scoring average work this season by also holding its opponents under 60 points per game on a fairly consistent basis, limiting opponents to just 57.5 points per game, which is second-best in the PSAC. A solid defensive effort on three-point shooters has been vital to this defensive success this year as the Warriors enter play, holding opponents to just 29.4 % shooting from deep while also forcing over 19 turnovers per game, which ranks fourth best in the PSAC.
Up Next:
West Chester will be off on Saturday afternoon before returning to action next Wednesday at Shepherd beginning at 5:30 p.m.
