Complete Game Notes
GAME QUICK FACTS
Millersville (15-4, 5-1 PSAC East) vs. East Stroudsburg (3-16, 1-5)
Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2010 - 6 p.m.
Pucillo Gymnasium, Millersville, Pa.
Millersville at West Chester (13-6, 3-3 PSAC East)
Saturday, Feb. 6, 2010 - 1 p.m.
Hollinger Field House, West Chester, Pa.
COVERAGE
Audio:
MSBN
Live Stats:
Millersville vs. East Stroudsburg
Live Stats:
Millersville at West Chester
THE WEEK AHEAD
• Millersville saw its seven-game winning streak snapped last Wednesday against Cheyney, but bounced back with a dominating win at Mansfield on Saturday. The Marauders return home Wednesday evening to take on an East Stroudsburg squad playing through tough circumstances and travel to West Chester Saturday to meet the under-performing Golden Rams for the second time this season.
• The Marauders are 17-3 against East Stroudsburg since 2000. The three losses came between the 2005-06 and 2006-07 seasons and occurred in consecutive games. ESU was routed at Pucillo Gymnasium last season, 76-47.
• West Chester was the Eastern Division pre-season favorite, as selected by the coaches, but the Golden Rams have not met expectations through six conference games. WCU dropped its opening two games in conference play (at Millersville and at Bloomsburg) and has had to play catch-up since. The Golden Rams are currently in a three-way tie for the fourth and final playoff spot in the East. They are joined by Shippensburg and Cheyney at 3-3 in the division.
• The Marauders handed West Chester a 68-57 setback on Jan. 13. Trailing by 10 midway through the first half, Millersville reeled off nine straight going to the locker room and swung the momentum of the game. MU led by as many as 19 in the second half and WCU never mounted a serious comeback over the final 20 minutes.
SCOUTING EAST STROUDSBURG
• East Stroudsburg was not dealt an easy hand for the 2009-10 season. Without a coach up until the 23rd hour, the Warriors turned to their men’s team for help. Justin Potts, a long-time assistant for the ESU men, took over as acting head coach for the women’s squad on Oct. 28. The hire came less than a month prior to the start of the season, and Potts has continued his duties with the men’s team as well.
• The Warriors returned three starters from last year’s team, but also lost arguably their best player. Guard Mel Villano, forward DeAnna Rayam, and center Alexa Detzi -all Freedom High School (Bethlehem, Pa.) graduates- returned to the lineup, but 2008-09 leading scorer and three-time All-PSAC Eastern Division First Team selection Jackie Yandrisevits graduated.
• Yandrisevits averaged 20.1 points per game last season, a gaping offensive hole that ESU has failed to fill this year. The Warriors rank 262nd in the NCAA in scoring offense at 53.1 points per game. ESU is also the second lowest scoring offense in the PSAC. Only Mansfield, at 51.9 points per game, scores less.
• Rayam has started all 19 games and leads the team in scoring at over 14 per contest, but the supporting cast has not been up to par. Villano is averaging 8.2 points per game, but beyond the top two, only Jennifer Scherer (6.2) averages more than five points a night.
• 20 field goals seems to be the plateau for East Stroudsburg. The team has hit 20 or more in each of its three wins, but has failed to hit that many in 14 of its 16 losses.
SCOUTING WEST CHESTER
• West Chester is Millersville’s longest standing rival and the two schools will be meeting for the 70th time on Saturday afternoon at Hollinger Field House.
• When the two teams met back in mid January Renata Neal was leading the team in scoring at 11.8 points per game. Neal’s scoring has experienced a slight drop off and now stands at 10.3 per game.
• The Golden Rams still feature three players that average on the plus side of 10 points per game. Joining Neal are Janelle Garber (11.1 ppg) and Allison Hostetter (10.6). Garber ranks 27th amongst the PSAC’s scoring leaders.
• Beyond the big three, West Chester gets its scoring from a variety of options. Megan Stewart and Jillian Keefer both average over seven points per game, while Mary Kate Serratelli is putting up over five per contest. It is for this reason that WCU ranks fifth in the conference in scoring offense.
• Defensively, the Golden Rams are no slouch either. They are giving up 59.5 points per game, good enough for third best in the PSAC. WCU is 56th in the nation in scoring defense.
• Four players have shown the ability to knock down the outside shot consistently for West Chester this season. Stewart leads the team with 18 3-pointers, while Serratelli has hit 16. Natalie Winters (15) and Keefer (10) also occupy the list of players that have hit 10 or more treys.
• Hostetter may be just 5-foot-7, but that doesn’t stop her from being one of the team’s leading rebounders. While Neal leads the squad with 6.6 per game, the sophomore guard is third on the team, bringing in 5.7 boards per game.
• Stewart does much more than deposit the ball in the basket for this West Chester team. She’s the Golden Rams’ assists leader with 86 and also paces the team in the steals department with 58.
LOOKING BACK
• Last Wednesday, the 24th-ranked Millersville women’s basketball team dropped a game that they’d like to have back. The anger and frustration of that loss was taken out on homestanding Mansfield Saturday afternoon, as the Marauders scored at will during the first half in a 59-40 victory at Decker Gymnasium.
• In their loss to Cheyney the Marauders put forth a forgettable 5-for-30 performance in the first half, but seniors Raquel Green and Ashley Moyer made sure no such futility would take place against the Mountaineers. The two teams swapped buckets over the first four minutes, but Millersville took control soon thereafter with a 17-2 run that took only six minutes. Green scored four points and Moyer hit two consecutive 3-pointers, while Mansfield turned the ball over five times during the run.
• Millersville extended the lead out to 23 by the end of the half, as coach Mary Fleig was able to get her reserves into action early on. The Marauder bench scored 13 first half points with Aurielle Mosley scoring six and Dominique Stroman contributing five. Green and Moyer paved the way for MU’s 42-19 halftime lead, however, combining for 24 points on 9-of-13 shooting. The 42 points were the most in a first half for the women’s basketball team since it put 46 against Lincoln (Pa.) back on Dec. 5, and marked the third time this season that MU eclipsed the 40-point mark in the opening 20 minutes. The Black and Gold grabbed 10 first half steals and forced 16 Mountaineer turnovers which turned into 17 points for the visitors. Millersville also shot well above its average from the charity stripe with an 8-of-11 (72.7-percent) showing in the half.
• Green’s Millersville teammates followed her lead, scoring 15 of the first 19 points in the half to open an insurmountable 57-23 advantage with less than 14 minutes remaining.
• The Marauders got a game-high 17 points from Green, and Moyer scored all 10 of her points in the first half. Jenna Craig scored eight points and Mashira Newman had six in the win. Mansfield was led by Mallory Moore’s 12 points but also got a solid outing from Julia Stevenson, who had 10 points and nine rebounds. Millersville held a 43-31 advantage on the boards and registered 16 more steals. Newman had four of the steals, bringing her season total to 70. She is one steal shy of breaking the school record for steals by a freshman, which was set by Safiyyah Bashir in 1997-98. Millersville improved to 52-3 all-time against Mansfield and has now won six straight against the Mountaineers.
NATIONAL RECOGNITION
• Millersville’s defense is allowing the fewest points in the nation at the Division II level. The Marauders are giving up 51.2 points per game, tops of the 271 teams competing at the Division II level.
• The Black and Gold also ranks third nationally in steals per game (16.2) and fifth in turnover margin (+7.9).
• Mashira Newman’s 3.7 steals per game puts her sixth in that category amongst her NCAA Division II counterparts. Three of the top 10 players in steals per game are from the PSAC. California (Pa.)’s Brooque Williams is fifth and Cheyney’s Stephanie Orji is eighth.
LUCKY 7’s
• No Millersville team in the history of the program had ever put together two separate winning streaks of seven games or more until this season. With their 68-45 win over Bloomsburg on Jan. 23, 2010, this Marauder squad has become the first to do just that. The team opened the season with seven straight victories, before dropping three straight. MU got back on the right track with a 53-52 upset win over No. 10 California (Pa.) on Jan. 3, and reeled off six more wins before falling at Cheyney on Jan. 27.
GROUP EFFORT
• When you look up and down the list of the PSAC’s scoring leaders, you’ll have to go quite far down the list under you find a Marauder. Raquel Green is the team's leader at 10.9 points per game, which ranks 27th in the conference. The fact that there is only one MU player in the top 30 in the league in scoring is further proof of just how well-rounded the Marauders are. 89-percent of Millersville’s offense (55.8 of its 62.9 points per game) comes from eight different players.
LIFE OUTSIDE THE PSAC EAST
• Non-conference games have been good to the Black and Gold in recent years. MU was 12-4 outside the PSAC East a season ago. Against non-PSAC West opponents, the Marauders were 8-2. That trend has continued early on in 09-10, as MU is10-3 in non-conference play this season.
• Millersville has compiled a 42-19 record against non-conference opponents since 2006-07.
• MU has only had a losing record in non-conference play once in the last seven seasons. In 2005-06, the Marauders were 7-10 outside of the PSAC East.
DOUBLING UP
• Senior Jenna Craig has increased her double-double total in each of the three seasons she has been in the program. As a freshman, Craig picked up just one double-double. That number jumped to four as a sophomore and nine as a junior. She picked up her first as a senior (13 pts., 10 reb.) in MU’s 68-41 victory over Philadelphia.
• Outside of Craig’s 16 career double-doubles, members of the 2009-10 team account for just four more. Raquel Green has registered a double-double three times in her career with the Black and Gold, while Aiesha Bellamy notched her first career double-double last season against Kutztown on March 3.
PRE-SEASON PRAISE
• The Marauders were picked to finish second in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Eastern Division when the conference’s coaches released their pre-season poll on Oct. 29.
• Millersville received three first place votes, the same amount as division-favorite, West Chester. Last season the Marauders and Golden Rams finished as regular season co-champions of the Eastern Division after compiling 11-3 records in PSAC East play.
• Craig, a 2008-09 All-PSAC East Second Team selection, was named to the 2009-10 PSAC East Preseason All-Conference Team.
GETTING OFFENSIVE
• Craig was a dominant rebounder at both ends of the floor last season, but her 100 offensive rebounds marked an impressive feat. She became the first Marauder to register triple-digit offensive boards in a season since Destinne Parker-Stewart and Kristy Garner both pulled down 104 in 2004-05.
HOME COOKING
• Since Millersville began playing its home games in Pucillo Gymnasium in 1982, the Marauders are an impressive 269-78 at home in 27-plus seasons. The team has never won less than seven games at Pucillo in a single season and has never had a losing record. Millersville has recorded three losses or fewer at home in 19 of 27 seasons at Pucillo, including a stretch of seven straight seasons from 1996 to 2002. The team has an unblemished 9-0 record in games played at Pucillo in 2009-10.
FIRST IMPRESSIONS
• The Marauders have started the season with a win in 17-of-20 Mary Fleig-coached openers. MU has won its last four openers, including this season’s 69-33 blowout win over the University of the District of Columbia. The last season-opening loss for MU came at the hands of the College of St. Rose, 81-75, in 2005-06. The program is 39-15 in openers dating back to the 1956-57 season.
WORTH THE WAIT
• After redshirting during the 2008-09 season, many Marauder fans didn’t know what to expect from 5-foot-7 guard Mashira Newman. Newman burst onto the scene with three strong games to start the season, giving the program just a taste of what’s to come. She started her career by posting 13 points and eight steals in the Marauders 69-33 win over UDC. A day later, she followed it up with a 22-point, nine rebound performance, which included five assists and four more steals in a stat-stuffer of a game. Her hot start was recognized by the conference when she was named PSAC East Athlete of the Week on Nov. 23.
• Newman, a North Hills, Pa., native has continued to provide a steady presence for the Marauders throughout the season. She is second on the team in scoring at 10.5 points per game and second in the PSAC in steals (70) and steals per game (3.7).
SECOND CHANCE
• Senior forward Raquel Green was in the midst of an impressive 2008-09 season, before having it cut short after 15 games. At the time she was averaging 7.5 points per game, 5.7 rebounds per game and was amongst the team leaders in blocked shots. Green has come back strong in 2009-10 and provided a much needed spark to this Millersville team. She put together a pair of double-figure scoring, six-rebound games early in the season, before having a monster performance (19 points, 16 rebounds) in MU’s 53-52 upset of then-No. 10 California (Pa.) on Jan. 3. Green is averaging 10.9 points per game and leads the team in blocked shots with 29. She’s scored in double-figures in six of her last eight games.
VARIETY SCORING
• 12 of the 14 players that saw action in Millersville’s season-opening win over UDC found their way onto the scoresheet. The trend continued against Lock Haven when all 10 participants scored at least a point. The Marauders have had 10 or more players register a point in 9-of-19 contests this season.
CROSSOVERS
• The Black and Gold is 14-10 against PSAC West programs during regular season play, dating back to 2006-07. The Marauders were 4-1 against Western Division foes last season and are 4-1 this season.
THE NIFTY FIFTIES
• Through 19 games, Millersville is once again on pace to hold its opponents’ offenses under 60 points per game. The Marauders are currently giving up a PSAC and NCAA Division II-best 51.2 ppg and have not allowed an average of 60 points per game for a season since 2005-06. In fact, Millersville has only allowed its opponents to finish with more than 60 points per game twice in the last seven seasons.
LEVEL 15
• Raquel Green recorded a Millersville rarity on Sunday with her 19-point, 16-rebound double-double. She became the first Marauder to register over 15 points and 15 rebounds in the same game since Jenna Craig had 16 and 16 against West Chester back on Feb. 7, 2009, a span of 20 games. Craig accomplished the feat twice last season, also going for 15 and 15 on Dec. 18, 2008 vs. Saint Leo. Prior to that, a Millersville player had not pulled off 15 and 15 since Kristy Garner scored 20 points and grabbed 15 boards in an 87-68 win over Cheyney on Jan. 29, 2005.
DEJA VU
• Millersville might want to start playing on January 3, every year if it can keep pulling off the fashionable wins it has in each of the last two seasons. On Jan. 3, 2009, the Marauders beat then-No. 8 Indiana (Pa.) 54-42 at Pucillo Gymnasium. On Jan. 3, 2010, the Marauders pulled out another upset of a ranked opponent, stunning then-No. 10 California (Pa.), 53-52, at Hamer Hall in California.
STEAL STATS
• The Marauders have already racked up 307 steals this season, an average of over 16 per game (16.2). The school record is held by the 1999-2000 team, which recorded 453 (14.1 per game). With a comparative number of games, this year’s squad is on pace to break that record. That will be no easy task, though, as the 99-00 squad played 32 games (25-7). For Millersville to break the record in it’s remaining eight regular season games, it would have to average 18.3 steals per game.
• Redshirt freshman Mashira Newman already has four games of seven steals or more. The feisty guard has racked up 70 steals in 19 games and the school record for steals by a freshman, set by Safiyyah Bashir (71 in 1997-98), is in serious jeopardy. Newman has also threatened the school record for steals in a game (10), which has been done by five different players.
