|
News -> Releases ->
Women's Basketball Enters Second Round of Divisional Play (February 7, 2008)
The top remaining seed in the Western Division will host the semifinals and finals, slated for Friday, March 7 and Saturday, March 8. The PSAC has five teams ranked in the top 10 of the NCAA II East Region and four of those teams are from the Western Division. Both divisions have been tightly contested. At 6-0, Millersville swept the first half of the PSAC East schedule but there are several teams still in contention to capture the regular season championship. The West is an even closer race that has four teams with at least four victories.
Western Division
As the second half of the conference schedule begins, the NCAA II East Region's top-ranked team in IUP leads the division with a 5-1 record. The Crimson Hawks are led by last year's Western Division Athlete of the Year, Jahzinga Tracey. Tracey is averaging 20.1 points and 9.0 rebounds a game. IUP is 20-2 overall and boasts the second best offense, averaging 74.0 points per game and the third best defense, allowing 60.4 points per game.
The Crimson Hawks are coming off a PSAC tournament championship and a berth in the NCAA tournament. If IUP hopes to repeat they will have to deal with conference foes California, Clarion and Shippensburg. All three teams are just one game back and own identical 4-2 records.
Shippensburg pulled off an impressive 88-75 road defeat at IUP, handing the Crimson Hawks their only divisional loss of the season. IUP will look to avenge the loss, but it will be a tough game for the Crimson Hawks who must travel to Shippensburg and face the league's leading scorer in Lauren Beckley, who is averaging a double-double for the season (22.2 points, 11 rebounds a game). The Lady Raiders were ousted from the PSAC tournament early last year, but the squad is poised for more upsets behind reigning Rookie of the Year Beckley.
California ended the first half of conference play with a tough loss to Edinboro, dropping the Vulcans to 4-2 in PSAC West play. California's other loss came in a 65-57 overtime thriller to IUP. The Vulcans holds the conference lead in offense (78.9 points per game) and are led by Brooque Williams and Kayla Smith, who each average 16.5 points per game. They also lead the division in scoring defense, holding opponents to 59.4 points per game. The Vulcans have compiled a 17-4 overall record and before the losses to Edinboro and IUP , were the top-ranked team in the East Region. The Vulcans will work to avenge both losses from this season and hope to run their streak of consecutive appearances in the PSAC championship game to eight. California also appeared in the NCAA East Region tournament last year, losing to Anderson in the first round.
Clarion has lost two conference games this season as they sit at 4-2 and 14-6 overall. The Lady Eagles lost to IUP and California in consecutive games. Clarion has picked it up since, running off four straight victories to put the Golden Eagles in position to make a second half run. Clarion will host the divisions two top teams in IUP and California in the first two games of the second half. These two games will surely set the tone for the second half of the Western Division.
Eastern Division
Millersville has jumped out a flawless 6-0 divisional record, 17-4 overall. The Marauders have posted the conference's best scoring defense, holding opponents to an average of 54.1 points per contest. The Millersville defense has helped them roll through the East in the first half of the division season.
West Chester is the closet team to Millersville with a 4-2 division record and own division's top offense, averaging 69.6 points per game. The Golden Rams have three different players that average double-figures in Janelle Garber (10.8), Christine Andrews (10.7) and Dana Weems (10.6). West Chester's well- rounded scoring attack has helped them to four strong divisional wins.
Cheyney gave Millersville one of its toughest test this year, taking the Marauders to the wire before falling, 65-60. Cheyney also pulled off an upset win against West Chester that snapped a 32-game skid against the Golden Rams. The win kept the Lady Wolves in position to make a run at the PSAC tournament with a 3-3 division record. Senior Danielle Jones leads the team in scoring with 10.6 points per game. Jones and the rest of the Lady Wolves look to make the PSAC playoffs for the first time since 1990.
East Stroudsburg sits at 3-3 tied with Cheyney for the third position. East Stroudsburg defeated Cheyney 74-66 earlier in the first half of division play. East Stroudsburg will look to avenge their first half losses and carry some momentum into the PSAC championship.
Other Top Performers
Scoring (per game) Lauren Kelshaw-LHU 16.3 Jackie Yandrisevits-ESU 15.5 Katrina Greer-CLAR 14.5 Alicia Espigh-MANS 14.3
Rebounds (per game) Colleen Kegerreis-BLOOM 9.2 Melissa McQuade-KUTZ 8.0 Sara Pratt-CLAR 7.8
Assists (per game) Ashley Grimm-CLAR 6.4 Crystal Andrews-CAL 5.3 Michelle Metz-SHIP 4.8
February 9
*Cheyney at Bloomsburg February 11 Cheyney at District of Columbia February 13
*Bloomsburg at Millersville February 16
*Bloomsburg at Kutztown February 20
*E. Stroudsburg at Bloomsburg February 21 District of Columbia at Edinboro February 23
*California at IUP February 27
*West Chester at Bloomsburg March 1
*Bloomsburg at Mansfield
|
|||||||||