Box Score Shippensburg, Pa. – Tuesday night at Shippensburg, the Marauders needed a win to effectively keep their season alive. Without the services of key rotation players Celeste Robinson and Alexis Martin, on the road against a team it had previously lost both meetings to, Millersville's chances looked bleak. But what the Marauders did next is what champions are made of, as the road team crushed Ship in the second half to come away with a 62-42 win and advance to the PSAC Tournament Semifinals.
 
In the process, decorated redshirt senior forward Aurielle Mosley, who finished with a double-double of 15 points and 10 rebounds, broke the school's career rebounding record. Kristy Garner held the previous record with 1,005, and Mosley with a swat and the subsequent rebound at the end of the first half, claimed the record for herself and now sits at 1,012. The York native also holds the program's career blocks record and is fifth on the team's all-time scoring list. In addition to her double-double, she also finished with three blocks.
 
For the second straight game, Millersville's defense came to play. Saturday at home against East Stroudsburg, the Marauders yielded just 31 points and held the Warriors to 18.6 percent from the field, and things weren't about to change Tuesday. Ship shot a season-low 22.8 percent, including 17.9 percent in the second half, and the 42 points were the home team's second-lowest total of the year. Perimeter defense was the key in the second half as the Raiders missed all 13 3-pointers after intermission.
 
After Millersville opened the game with an 8-5 advantage, Ship went on a 16-8 spurt to take a 21-16 lead with 7:53 to play in the first half. Falling behind by five was the wakeup call the Marauders needed, as they went on a 14-0 run over the next 6:18 to seize control of the game. Freshman forward Lexi Scrivano, who had played just 83 minutes entering Tuesday's game, gave the Marauders 21 valuable minutes off the bench and got the big run kick-started with her only bucket of the game, laying the ball in off the window.
 
Carly Gallagher, who tied Mosley for a game-high with 15 points of her own, then scored the next four points on a layup and a jumper to pull the Marauders in front. After taking that 22-21 lead, Millersville never looked back and led the rest of the way. After Gallagher's jumper, Mosley nailed her seventh triple of the year from the top of the arc, followed by another layup from Gallagher. The run was capped by Yasmin Cooper's and-one layup that resulted in a three point play. Ship closed the first half with the last four points to make the halftime score 30-25 in favor of Millersville.
 
Out of the locker rooms, the Marauder defense clamped down, holding homestanding Ship to just two points over the first 9:26 action while going on a 15-2 run to open up a 45-27 lead. Redshirt senior forward Miesha Cousins opened the scoring with a tough layup inside, followed by a Mosley jumper and a 3-pointer by redshirt senior point guard Mashira Newman. Cousins totaled nine points, four boards and two steals on the night, and Newman finished with just eight points but ripped down a game-high 11 boards to tie her season best. The North Hills native also added three assists, a steal and a block.
 
After Sarah Strybuc stopped the streak at seven consecutive points for Millersville with a layup, Cousins went to work with another layup. Mosley followed up Cousins' lay-in with four straight points of her own, swishing a jumper from the top of the key and hitting a turnaround hook. Newman capped off the 13-2 spurt with another layup. After grabbing that 18-point lead, Ship came no closer than 12 points the rest of the way, pulling within 50-38 with 4:09 to play on a Strybuc jumper.
 
Although the Marauders went without a field goal from 8:31 until 1:22 to play, the team's clutch free throw shooting held the Raiders at bay, as Millersville went 7-of-8 from the charity stripe in that span. Then, with just over a minute left, it was Gallagher who drove the dagger straight into the Raiders' hearts, a 3-pointer from the left corner that hit nothing but net and gave the Marauders a 20-point lead at 59-39, putting Shippensburg's season on ice.
 
Millersville ruled the paint, dominating down low to the tune of a 36-18 advantage in the painted area. Rebounding also gave the Marauders an edge, as they outrebounded Shippensburg 42-38. The Raiders also failed in their strongest area when it mattered most; Ship made all six of its free throw attempts in the first half, but went just 7-of-14 in the second half. That kind of shooting from the line would be detrimental to any team, let alone the team that attempts and makes the most free throws in the NCAA, regardless of division.
 
The Marauders are now in the PSAC Semifinals for the 11th time in the last 15 years. Millersville will play Gannon Friday night at Bloomsburg. The Golden Knights defeated the Marauders at home in overtime, 78-76 on Dec. 18. Tip time is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Check back to millersvilleathletics.com for more details.