Complete Game Notes

GAME QUICK FACTS
Millersville (9-2) at Slippery Rock (5-6)
Saturday, Jan. 10, 2009 - 1 p.m.
Morrow Field House, Slippery Rock, Pa.

Millersville at Mercyhurst (5-6)
Sunday, Jan. 11, 2009 - 1 p.m.
Mercyhurst Athletic Center, Erie, Pa.

COVERAGE
Audio: MSBN

ABOUT THE GAMES
•    Millersville travels to Western Pennsylvania for PSAC crossover action this weekend. On Saturday afternoon, the ladies in black and gold will be in search of their 10th win of the season at Slippery Rock. The weekend then comes to a close with a trip to Erie to take on Mercyhurst for only the third time in school history.
•    The Marauders enter this weekend's games boasting a stingy defense that ranks second in the PSAC in points allowed per game. Millersville is giving up just 49.6 points per game and has relayed that tight defense into a 9-2 record to start the season.
•    This is the second consecutive weekend of PSAC crossover games for the Marauders. Last weekend Millersville opened 2009 by hosting a pair of nationally ranked foes from the PSAC West. The Marauders split the two games, downing No. 8 Indiana (Pa.) and falling to No. 5 California (Pa.)

ABOUT THE OPPONENTS
•    Slippery Rock enters the weekend with an overall record of 5-6. The Rock dropped its first two games of the season, but has juggled wins and losses since. Slippery Rock is, however, coming off of its biggest win of the season to date, a 70-61 road triumph over then No. 15 Shippensburg.
•    The Rock ranks near the middle of the PSAC in most major stat categories. Slippery Rock has the eighth best offense, scoring at a clip of 68.2 points per game, while giving up 63.1 points per game, good for ninth in the conference. Slippery Rock has a surprising turnover margin of +0.00 on the season. Through 11 games, the Rock has turned the ball over 198 times and taken it away exactly as many times.
•    Slippery Rock is getting balanced scoring to start the season. Five players average over eight points per game, with senior Sasha Sales (10.6) and junior Julie Molloy (10.3) leading the way.
•    The Rock, selected to finish at the bottom of the eight team PSAC Western Division in the pre-season coaches poll, is just two wins shy of matching last season's win total of seven. Last season's squad finished 7-20 but struggled in conference play, finishing just 1-11 in the PSAC West.
•    Mercyhurst is in its first season as a member of the PSAC after moving over from the GLIAC. The Lakers record also sits at 5-6 coming into this weekend's crossover action.
•    Oddly, Mercyhurst, like Slippery Rock, is coming off of a tough 7-20 season in 2007-08. The Lakers are a young bunch though, as they return all five starters from last year's team.
•    Sophomore forward Amy Achesinski and senior guard Stephanie Prischak lead the Lakers in scoring at 14.2 points per game. Achesinski is coming off a freshman season in which she scored a team best 16.6 points per game.
•    Mercyhurst is looking to improve its offensive production as the season moves forward. To date, the Lakers are last in the PSAC in scoring at just 57 points per game.
•    The Lakers have certainly been battle tested in the early part of 2008-09. Back on November 24, they were defeated by No. 1 Northern Kentucky. The following week the team traveled to Morgantown, W.Va., where they fell to Division I opponent West Virginia from the Big East conference.
•    Mercyhurst is a dangerous team from beyond the arc, connecting on close to seven three-pointers per game. The Lakers average of 6.9 three-pointers per game ranks third in the PSAC behind only Gannon and Kutztown.
 
UNFAMILIAR TERRITORY
•    Millersville and Mercyhurst hit the court together for only the third time in school history. The Marauders are 1-1 against the Lakers, with the first meeting coming back in 1985-86. Millersville got the best of that match-up, emerging with an 80-51 victory. The last meeting between the two schools came 15 seasons ago (1993-94), when Mercyhurst evened the all-time series with a 78-63 win.
•    The Marauders have faced off with The Rock at least once a season dating back to 1997-98. Millersville holds an 8-4 advantage in the series over that time frame. The teams met twice in 1999-2000, with Slippery Rock taking both games, including a 65-45 victory in the NCAA Division-II East Regional Championship game. Overall, the two schools are meeting for the 19th time. The all-time series is even at 9-9. Slippery Rock won the first meeting 53-48 in 1971-72, with Millersville claiming the last meeting 72-45 in 2007-08.

THE LAST TIME OUT
•    Millersville dropped just its second game of the season, a 76-60 defeat, to nationally ranked California (Pa.) last Sunday afternoon at Pucillo Gymnasium.
    The Marauders trailed by as many as 17 points in the first half before going on an 11-2 run to cut the Vulcan lead to 35-30 at the break. Senior guard Jenna Philo knocked down four three-pointers in the first half as she led the Black and Gold with 12 points at halftime. Junior Emily Balogh netted eight points in the half, as she came off the bench to give Millersville a much needed boost.
    The second stanza saw California (Pa.) extend its lead to 20 by the 10:44 mark. The Marauders tried to chip away at the lead. An Ashley Moyer three cut the deficit to 11 with 6:58 remaining, but that was as close as Millersville would get.
    Balogh finished with a career-high 14 points on the afternoon, while Philo was held scoreless in the second half and finished with 12. Moyer chipped in eight for the homestanding Marauders.
    The Vulcans got a game-high 27 points from Brooque Williams, the reigning PSAC West Athlete of the Week. Williams also grabbed 10 boards in recorded a double-double. Lindsay Johnson also made her presence known for Cal, scoring 23 points and pulling down 14 rebounds in the contest.

MARAUDER MILESTONES
•    Millersville's women's basketball program began in 1918 and since then, it has compiled 692 wins, leaving it just eight victories shy of 700 all-time wins. Under head coach Mary Fleig, the Marauders have compiled almost half of those victories with 332.
•    The women's team will look to extend its 14-game PSAC Eastern Division winning streak when it travels to West Chester on January 14 for the PSAC East opener.
•    Last season, coach Fleig won her 300th game at Millersville in the season opener, an 81-38 drubbing of Alderson-Broaddus in the MU Tipoff Classic.
   
LOFTY EXPECTATIONS
•    After posting a 24-6 overall record and a perfect 12-0 mark in the PSAC East a year ago, the Marauders were pegged to finish second in the PSAC East this season in the coaches preseason poll. 
•    Shippensburg, a newcomer to the PSAC Eastern Division, was picked to finish atop the division in 2008. Shippensburg made the switch to the East after the realignment of the PSAC to accomodate the additions of Gannon and Mercyhurst to the Western Division. Shippensburg qualified for the PSAC playoffs last season as the fourth seed out of the competitive Western Division. All-American and Western Division Athlete of the Year Lauren Beckley heads a Lady Raider team that has reached the playoffs in 13 of the past 14 seasons.
•    West Chester, who qualified for the PSAC playoffs last season as the second seed, finished the season at 9-3 in the division and is picked to finish one spot behind Millersville in third.  Kutztown, who won just four games in the division last year, is picked fourth, while East Stroudsburg is fifth.
•    Forward Gladine St. Julien, an All-PSAC Eastern Divsion First Team selection last season, was named to the 2008 Preseason All-PSAC East Team.

POWER FORWARD
•    Forward Gladine St. Julien stepped up in a huge way last season after the loss of Preseason All-PSAC selection Ashley Romanoski due to injury.  St. Julien led the Marauders in scoring average (12.5) and was second on the team in rebounding, averaging 6.7 rebounds per game.
•    St. Julien was honored as the PSAC Eastern Division Athlete of the Week three times last season. 
•    St. Julien poured in a career-high 22 points on December 18, in the first of three losses on the season to California (Pa.).  She matcher her career high on February 23 in a four-point victory over East Stroudsburg.
•    The 6-0 forward scored in double figures in 21 of the team's 30 games last season and managed four double-doubles.  St. Julien led the Marauders in scoring 13 times and rebounding 11 times.

NO PLACE LIKE HOME
•    Since Millersville began playing its home games in Pucillo Gymnasium in 1982, the Marauders are an impressive 249-76 at home in 26 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 18 of 26 seasons at Pucillo, including a stretch of seven straight seasons from 1996 to 2002.
•    Since the 2000-01 season, Millersville holds a .795 winning percentage at Pucillo.

NEW FACES
•    Despite returning three full-time starters from last year's team and two other players who saw significant action, the Marauders welcome eight new faces to this year's squad.
•    Coach Fleig has recruited seven freshman and a tranfer to fill out the 2008 roster that also includes nine returning players.  Chelsea Barsky, a transfer from St. Francis (Pa.), is in her junior season and despite playing mostly at the guard position while at the Division I Institution, the 5-11 transfer will be called upon to do most of her work in the post.
•    The incoming class is well balanced with four guards and five forwards.  With the addition of 2007-08 red-shirt Emily Balogh, the Marauders will have a very deep bench to spell the starters.
   
WHO NEEDS SPRING BREAK?
•    Extending the season into March is becoming commonplace at Millersville. In 2007-08, the Marauders earned their 12th straight appearance in the PSAC Tournament and seventh consecutive appearance in the conference semifinals.
•    Despite falling in the PSAC Tournament semifinals to California (Pa.), the Marauders entered the NCAA Division II Tournament as the No. 7 seed in the East Region.  Despite leading with under eight minutes to play in the opening-round contest, the Marauders eventually fell for the third time on the season to California (Pa.) to end their season.
•    The Marauders have appeared in the NCAA Tournament five times under the direction of Fleig and have posted a 2-5 record in those appearances.  Millersville defeated Pitt-Johnstown, 75-71 to advance to the regional semifinal in 1999 and the 2002 team knocked off Belmont Abbey, 84-60 to advance for the only two victories.

RECORDS: MADE TO BE BROKEN
•    In the season-opening 101-30 victory over Columbia Union, the Marauders eclipsed the 100-point mark for the first time since the 1999-2000 season.  In that season the Marauders ironically knocked off the same team (Columbia Union) by a score of 102-52.
•    The 101-point effort was helped in large part to the 60 first-half points scored by the Marauders which broke the school record of 54 set by the 1992-93 team in a lopsided win over Holy Family.
•    The 71-point margin of victory also broke the school record set  by the 1992-93 team that defeated Cheyney by a final score of 94-28. 

DEFENSIVE REIGN
•    Millersville allowed only 42 points against Indiana (Pa.) on Jan. 3, 2009, marking the lowest point total by IUP since 2004.
•     IUP was the seventh opponent that Millersville held to fewer than 50 points in 2008-09.
•     California (Pa.) finally put a chink in Millersville's defensive armor, when the Vulcans scored 76 points against the Marauders on Jan. 4. It was the highest point total surrendered by a Millersville team since Feb. 17, 2007, a span of 42 games.

TWICE AS NICE
•     Millersville has put an even greater scoring lockdown on two opponents this season, holding each to just 30 points, a feat never before accomplished by a Marauder team under coach Fleig. 
•     The Marauders opened the season in convincing fashion by downing Columbia Union 101-30. On Nov. 19, just four days later, Millersville pulled the feat off once again, this time in a 69-30 victory over Goldey-Beacom. In the win, the Marauders held the Lightning to just two second-half field goals.