Marauders Fall to West Chester in OT

Wednesday, January 14

West Chester, PA

6 p.m.

Millersville University

West Chester

Marauders Fall to West Chester in OT

1/14/2009 8:52:58 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

West Chester, Pa. — Dana Weems drained a three with 22 seconds to play to force overtime and the West Chester Golden Rams rode the momentum of her late basket to a 64-54 PSAC East win over visiting Millersville on Wednesday night.

The Marauders (11-3, 0-1 PSAC East) were in search of their 11th win of the season in the PSAC Eastern Division opener for both teams, but West Chester (9-5, 1-0 PSAC East) got the early edge building a 13-6 lead by the 11:53 point of the first half. The six point advantage for the Golden Rams would, however, be the largest lead either team would hold in regulation, as the two sides would battle back and forth all night.

Senior Gladine St. Julien and freshman Gabrielle Styles did their best to keep Millersville close throughout the first half. St. Julien scored eight points and grabbed six rebounds to help the Marauders stay close, while Styles came off the bench with contributions of six points and six rebounds. A St. Julien jumper with 2:27 remaining in the half cut the Golden Rams lead to three at 24-21. Millersville would even the score on its next possession. Following a turnover, junior Ashley Moyer, who saw streaks of 26 straight games scoring and 19 straight games with a three-pointer come to an end on Sunday at Mercyhurst, started new streaks in both categories as she burried a three to tie the game at 24.

Millersville would trail 27-24 at the break after West Chester's Megan Stewart answered Moyer's three with a three of her own.

The Marauders kept it a one possession game through the early part of the second half, until St. Julien's jumper gave them a 32-31 lead with 14:20 to play. The lead was the first of the game for Millersville since the 15:40 mark of the first half, when it led 5-4. West Chester would briefly regain the lead, but the Marauders jumped back in front once again when Jenna Philo nailed a three to put the visitors up 40-39. Down the stretch it was the Black and Gold that played with the one possession advantage.

West Chester would cut the Millersville lead to 48-46 on a jumper by Janelle Garber with 1:45 to play. St. Julien knocked down 1-of-2 at the line to give the Marauders a three point lead with 30 seconds left. That gave Weems the opportunity to tie the game, which she did with 22 seconds to go. The Marauders failed to get a shot off on the final possession and the two teams headed to overtime tied at 49.

The homestanding Golden Rams were perfect from the floor in overtime and built a two possession lead. Millersville was unable to keep pace and West Chester was able to seal the deal going 8-of-8 from the charity stripe in the late stages of overtime.

With the loss, Millersville falls to 7-12 in PSAC East openers under coach Mary Fleig. The Marauders 14 game winning-streak in PSAC East play, which extended back to the spring of 2007, also came to an end. St. Julien was, once again, a consistent force inside for the Marauders. The senior finished with a team-high 17 points and 11 rebounds and was the only Millersville player to finish with double-figures in scoring. Jenna Craig was again dominant on the boards. Craig came into Wednesday's game averaging 9.1 rebounds per game and hauled in 11 on the evening. Styles chipped in eight points and a career-high nine rebounds.

The Golden Rams were led by Megan Stewart's 17 points. Garber registered 13 points, while reigning PSAC East Freshman of the Week, Allison Hostetter pitched in 10 points. Weems, West Chester's leading scorer, was held nine points below her average of just over 15 per game, finishing with six, but hit the timely three.

Millersville will be back in action Saturday evening when it visits Kutztown for a 6 p.m. start. All the Millersville basketball action can be heard live on MSBN.