WBB Quick Facts
LOCK HAVEN, Pa.- The Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) released its women's basketball preseason coaches' poll on Thursday afternoon. Coming off back-to-back PSAC Semifinal appearances, the West Chester University women's basketball team was picked to finish second in the PSAC East, receiving one first-place vote, which trailed only 2023-24 Champion, Lock Haven, who garnered eight first-place votes.
Lock Haven, West Chester, and Kutztown captured the top three spots in the poll, followed by Millersville and East Stroudsburg to round out the top five. Bloomsburg found itself sixth in the Eastern Division, followed by Shippensburg, Mansfield, and Shepherd.
Out West, 2024 Atlantic Regional Champion, Gannon was picked as the favorite to capture the Division and PSAC Championship weekend hosting rights that would come it once again with six first-place votes. California was picked second with a first-place vote of its own, followed by Indiana, Edinboro (one first-place vote), and Seton Hill to round out the top five. Slippery Rock, Pitt-Johnstown, and Clarion completed the Western Division poll.
In 2023-24, West Chester completed its second 24-win season (24-7, 18-4) in a row, again falling just shy of matching its program record of 25 wins from the 1992 (25-5) campaign. The Golden Rams 24 wins were enough to help them return to the PSAC Tournament Semifinals and the NCAA Tournament for the second time in as many years. This also marks just the second time in program history that the Golden Rams have appeared in the NCAA Tournament in back-to-back years, with the previous occurrence being in the 2015 and 2016 seasons.
West Chester completed an unbeaten regular season at home last March and is currently riding a 24-game home winning streak, which dates back to January 11, 2023, when the team fell to Shippensburg at home by an 83-70 final. The Golden Rams 24-game home winning streak is the third longest active streak in Division II women's basketball, trailing only Harding (26) and Tampa (27).
The Golden Rams return two of their five starters,
Michelle Kozicki (Wilmington, Del./Padua) and
Anna McTamney (Plymouth Meeting, Pa./Plymouth Whitemarsh) from a year ago. After graduating its top two scorers,
Leah Johnson and
Emily McAteer, they will need to replace 1,430 of its 2,210 points from a year ago. Kozicki and McTamney are two-time All-League selections and enter the 2024-25 season after completing two 300+ point seasons in their first two campaigns as Golden Rams. Both transfers from La Salle and the University of the Sciences, respectively, enter the season well within striking distance of their 1,000
th collegiate points and 1000
th points as Golden Rams.
In addition to her two All-League citations, Kozicki, who led the team in rebounding last year, averaging 7.5 per game, was named the 2023 PSAC East Defensive Player of the Year. She became the first Golden Ram to receive this honor since Alexandra Lennon in 2013.
The defense will likely need to be a calling card for West Chester this season as the Golden Rams will trot out a different-looking starting five than what fans may have grown accustomed to seeing in recent years. Defense has been an area of strength for West Chester over the years, and the 2023-24 season was no different as the Purple and Gold ended the season ranked 10
th in scoring margin and 12
th in scoring defense, holding opponents to just 55.3 points per game and outscoring them by an average of 16.0 points per game.
Opening Up
West Chester will head to Charleston, West Virginia, for its opening weekend. On November 9 and 10, it will take on West Virginia State and Charleston before visiting Holy Family on November 14. On November 18, at 5:30 p.m., West Chester will look to stretch its home winning streak to 25 in a row against Wilmington before opening PSAC play at Slippery Rock on November 22, beginning at 3 p.m.
