WEST CHESTER, Pa.-Marianna Papazoglou (North Wildwood, N.J/Wildwood Catholic) led all scorers with 17 points on 6-of-13 shooting, including five makes from beyond the arc, to lead the West Chester University women's basketball team (10-9, 6-7) to a 71-44 victory over Mansfield (2-19, 0-14) on Saturday afternoon.
Papazoglou was one of three Golden Rams in double figures as
Lena Stein (Collegeville, Pa./Perkiomen Valley) registered a double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds, along with 10 from
Bella Mazur (Linwood, N.J./Mainland Regional).
West Chester led for all but 1:27 on Saturday afternoon and led by as many as 29 in the waning seconds of regulation to halt a two-game losing streak with a dominant 27-point victory over Mansfield.
West Chester shot 46.7 % (28-of-60) from the field, including a 35.7 % (5-of-14) effort from three-point range, while also going 10-for-14 (71.4 %) at the line.
Before Saturday's game, West Chester paused to recognize the families of its players as a thank-you for their continued support of the Golden Rams.
Following Saturday's Parents' Day ceremonies, West Chester got off to a quick start, jumping out to an early 2-0 lead with the first basket of the game just seconds after the opening tip, and led 10-6 with 4:15 to play in the first.
West Chester held a 13-9 lead at the end of the first quarter as the Golden Rams shot 37.5 % (6-of-16) from the field in the opening 10 minutes, but held its guests to just 23.1 % (3-of-13) shooting to hold a four-point lead.
West Chester started the second on a 6-0 run, which extended the lead to 19-9 just under two minutes into the frame and forced an early Mansfield timeout. Mansfield continued to struggle mightily from the floor in the second, going 0-for-15 from the field and scoring its only points on 3-of-4 shooting at the line as West Chester carried a 26-12 lead into the halftime break.
West Chester was 5-for-13 (38.5 %) from the field in the second and 11-of-29 (37.9 %) in the first half, including a 1-for-5 (20.0 %) effort with the lone make coming from Papazoglou, while also going 3-for-5 at the line.
Mansfield shot just 10.7 % (3-of-28) from the field, including a 1-for-17 (5.9 %) effort from beyond the arc, while also going 5-for-8 (62.5 %) at the line.
Papazoglou started the second half scoring with two quick threes before Mansfield scored its first field goal since the first quarter with 7:36 to play in the third when Jenna Burkett hit a long two. This sparked something for the Mounties as they outscored West Chester 13-10 through the first six minutes to cut the lead to 36-25. Mansfield continued its improved third quarter, shooting 42.9 % (6-of-14) from the field, including two makes from beyond the arc to outscore West Chester 20-18 and cut the Golden Ram lead to 44-32 heading into the fourth.
Burkett started the fourth with a deep three, which cut the lead to 44-35 before hitting another three to cut the lead to 44-38. West Chester answered these in a big way, outscoring its guests 27-6 down the stretch of the quarter to lead by as many as 29 in a 71-44 victory over Mansfield.
Mansfield was just 13-for-61 (21.3 %) from the field, including 31 ill-fated three pointers as the Mounties shot just 13.9 % (5-for-36) from beyond the arc. Mansfield did manage to go 13-for-16 (81.3 %) at the line. Jenna Burkett led Mansfield in scoring with a team-high three makes from beyond the arc as the Golden Rams held one of the PSAC's top scorers to just eight points on 1-of-9 shooting from the field with a 6-for-8 effort at the line.
Led by eight points from
Jordin Tate (Wilmington, Del./Caravel), West Chester's bench outscored Mansfield's 24-8 in the victory.
West Chester ended the game with a 50-33 lead in rebounding and nine second-chance points, along with a 40-12 lead in points in the paint and a 12-8 lead in points off turnovers, despite committing 21 in the victory.
Up Next
West Chester will be right back in action on Monday night against Millersville at 5:30.
