Box Score Millersville, Pa. – Hosting Shippensburg on Senior Night, the Marauders had a chance to grab not only a first-round bye in the PSAC Tournament, but also had the opportunity to host the tourney's semifinals and the PSAC Championship game. Wednesday night, the Raiders vanquished those plans, defeating Millersville 72-62 to sweep the season series and send the Marauders down to the No. 3 seed from the East division.
 
All but 10 of the Marauders' 62 points came from the three seniors, led by Miesha Cousins' career-high 19 points. The Harrisburg native also finished with 11 rebounds for just her third double-double of the season. Aurielle Mosley registered her seventh double-double in a row, scoring 16 points and ripping down 10 boards, and Mashira Newman scored 17 points to move past current Millersville athletic director Peg Kauffman into fourth place on the school's all-time scoring list.
 
But the effort of the seniors was not enough against a Raider team that had five players post double digits in the point column, paced by PSAC East Freshman of the Year candidate Stephanie Knauer's 17. Knauer also pulled down 10 rebounds. After the team's raced up and down the court to a 12-12 tie in the first 5:02 of game action, the Marauders thought they had a stranglehold, going on a 10-0 sprint to make the score 22-12 with 8:57 left. Five different Millersville players scored in the 10-0 run, capped by a Mosley lay-in.
 
After that, things took a turn for the worse for the home team. The Marauders could only watch as Ship punched back with a 15-2 run, claiming a 27-24 halftime edge. The Wert sisters combined for the first six points of that run. Dana and Shawna Wert, both playing their final regular season games for the Raiders, combined for 26 points (13 apiece), 16 rebounds, nine assists and four steals.
 
Out of the locker rooms, the Shippensburg shots continued to fall, as the Raiders opened up their lead to as much as 10 (42-32) by the 15:20 mark of the second stanza, capped by the second of two Dana Wert free throws. Wednesday night's game was a game of runs, and after Ship's lead got to 10, the Marauders showed fight, closing to a 50-50 tie on an 18-8 spurt over the next 7:28 of action.
 
In that run, kicked off by Newman's and-one leaner from the left elbow, the redshirt senior point guard poured in eight points, and all 18 points were scored by the three seniors. In total, the seniors scored all but two of the team's 38 second-half points. That run, which ended on two Mosley free throws with 7:52 to play, was as close as Millersville got the rest of the way.
 
Feeling the pressure from the Millersville defense and the home Pucillo Gymnasium crowd, Ship hit for eight unanswered points over the next three possessions. Dana Wert canned a three and Caitlyn Deeter accounted for the final five points with a triple and a jumper in succession. From there, Ship never looked back, ballooning the lead to as much as 14 points (66-52) with 3:36 to play.
 
Cousins (5-for-10) and Mosley (7-of-14) each shot 50 percent from the field, but Newman was held to just 7-for-22 from the floor, being forced to work for every one of her 17 points by the Shippensburg defense. Carly Gallagher, the only other player to score more than two points for the Marauders, was held to 3-of-9 shooting and was shut out from the perimeter, missing all six attempts from downtown. In total, Millersville shot just 38.1 percent as a team and 2-of-19 from beyond the arc.
 
Shippensburg's shooting percentage was actually worse than Millersville's at just 34.9 percent, but the Raiders made timely shots, including 8-of-22 from deep and 20-for-25 from the line. On the other end, the Marauders made just 12-of-24 free throw attempts.
 
Mosley's point total pushes her to 1,391 points, just seven points away from tying Kauffman for fifth on the career scoring list. If the redshirt senior forward can manage nine more points, she will become just the fifth player in team history to reach the 1,400-point plateau. Newman became the fourth member on Wednesday night, with her career point total now sitting at 1,405.
 
The loss, combined with Bloomsburg's 30-point blowout of East Stroudsburg, forces the Marauders to play in the opening round of the PSAC Tournament on Saturday. Millersville will host a Warrior team it swept in the season series, besting ESU by scores of 69-55 and 76-47, respectively. Tip time for Saturday's first round game of the PSAC Tournament is slated for 5:30 p.m.