WEST CHESTER, Pa.- After racing out to a record of 7-1 to open the year and improving to 8-3 with a win over Clarion on December 30, the West Chester University women's basketball team (8-5, 3-4) enters today looking to get back on track after falling to Cal and PSAC-East leader Lock Haven a week ago. West Chester appears poised to bounce back in a big way this week as the Golden Rams are a perfect 8-0 in Hollinger Field House and have won seven of those eight games by 15 points or more, with the lone exception being a 77-69 win over Elizabeth City State University in the season opener. On Wednesday night, West Chester will open its PSAC East slate and a two-game homestand with a matchup against Shepherd beginning at 5:30 p.m. in Hollinger Field House.
SERIES INFORMATION
West Chester began its history against Shepherd with a win in November of the 2002-03 season before hitting difficult times against the PSAC's southern-most member in the first few years of Shepherd being in the PSAC. A year ago, West Chester swept the season series, claiming a 68-42 victory on the road and a 94-47 win in Hollinger, which halted a five-game losing streak against Shepherd. In Hollinger a year ago, West Chester was locked in a good one early, leading by just four at the end of the first quarter but led by 17 at the half and pulled away in the second half for the victory.
Michelle Kozicki led the Golden Rams in scoring in this victory, finishing with 20 points on 8-of-12 shooting, while
Leah Johnson added 17 of her own to go along with nine assists.
WHAT'S HAPPENING ON THE FLOOR?
Before tonight's game, West Chester will honor grad transfer
Jayde Boyd for scoring her 1,000th career point in a win over Clarion on December 30. Boyd scored just over 900 of her 1,000 points away from West Chester, beginning her career at Fairleigh Dickinson before playing the remainder of her undergraduate career at Mercyhurst.
FLOCK TALK
West Chester enters play on Wednesday looking to halt a two-game losing streak and avoid its first three-game or longer skid since the 2021-22 campaign. On Saturday at Lock Haven, West Chester led for almost 37 minutes of the 40 minutes of regulation, but a late-game run forced OT, and the Golden Rams were unable to get the stop they needed in the extra session, never leading in the five minutes before falling by a 79-76 final.
Emily McAteer scored a career-high 33 points and tied for 11th in team history in points in a single game in the process, while Johnson added 19 of her own, but it was not enough to hand the Bald Eagles their first league loss of the 2023-24 season.
Johnson's 19-point effort helped her surpass the 1,500-point milestone for her career, becoming just the third player in school history to do so and the first since Dallas Ely and Brittany Sicinski did so in 2015-16. Johnson enters play on Wednesday night just 119 points away from the scoring record currently held by Sicinski while also sitting just eight assists away from Colleen McNamara's assist record. Johnson and McAteer lead the team in scoring, averaging 15.4 and 15.1 points per game, while McAteer also leads the squad in rebounding, averaging 7.2 rebounds per game.
As a team, West Chester enters play on Wednesday night averaging 73.3 points per game, which is still first in the PSAC East and among the league's leaders, ranking fourth overall, shooting a PSAC-East-best 43.0 % from the field through 13 games. The Golden Rams work at the charity stripe was integral to their success a year ago as well, and it would seem that trend has continued so far in 2023-24, leading the league in free throw shooting at a 78.6 % clip while also ranking fourth in the league and second in the PSAC East in rebounding, averaging 40.8 rebounds per game. The Golden Rams are also second in the league in rebounding margin, entering Wednesday night's battle against the Rams with a +6.4 margin on the year, trailing only IUP, who sits atop the chart at +7.0.
SCOUTING SHEPHERD
Shepherd enters play in a similar situation to that of the Golden Rams, going 1-5 in its last five games amid a four-game losing streak after dropping its East opener to East Stroudsburg by an 84-76 final on Saturday afternoon. Peyton Grant, the Ram's leading scorer on the year, averaging 9.8 points per game, led the team in scoring with 17 points, including five made three, but it was not enough to overcome the Warriors.
For the year, Shepherd is averaging 60.1 points per game while allowing an average of 74.1 points per game, shooting just 37.2 % from the field and 32.9 % from beyond the arc while also being outrebounded by a 44.2-32.8 margin. Taking care of the basketball has also been somewhat problematic for Coach Kaufman's group this season, averaging 18.6 turnovers per game, entering play with a -3.3 turnover margin on the season.
UP NEXT
Wednesday is the Golden Rams first home game of 2024 and the first of two straight in Hollinger as the Golden Rams will welcome ESU to University Avenue on Saturday afternoon for what will also be Alumni Day.
