Shippensburg, Pa. - The first time Millersville and Shippensburg met in 2016, it was a Shippensburg kind of game. But on Wednesday night in Heiges Fieldhouse--a building in which the Raiders had lost just one game this season--the Marauders, the PSAC's No. 1 scoring defense, held the PSAC's top-scoring offense to 24 points below its average and scored a 63-50 victory.

Millersville (15-7, 11-7 PSAC) won its fifth consecutive game and for the seventh time in eight tries. The Raiders (18-5, 14-5 PSAC) entered the evening as the PSAC East front runner and averaging 74.7 points per game. Millersville held the Raiders to 12 points below their previous season low and a season-low 33.3 percent shooting. In the Jan. 9 meeting, Shippensburg's 74 points and 51.8 percent shooting were the most by any Marauder opponent. Millersville wasn't about to let that happen again.

Millersville held Shippensburg to just eight points in the second quarter, survived an early third quarter onslaught from the home team, rallied from a deficit by ending the third quarter on a 7-0 run and pulling away with a 22-12 scoring advantage in the fourth. Millersville shot 45.9 percent from the field and controlled the interior, outscoring Ship 40-22 in the paint.

Shippensburg landed landed the first blow, scoring the first seven points of the game, but Millersville chipped away and a bucket from Celeste Robinson and a three from Alex Stam two minutes into the second quarter put Millersville on top for the first time. Millersville went on to shoot 8-for-16 in the quarter, outscoring Shippensburg, 17-8. Aunjel Van Brakle's basket in the waning seconds of the stanza put Millersville in front 30-22 at the break.

Shippensburg retaliated with another quick start. Morgan Griffith scored eight points as part of the a 12-0 Raider run in the first two-and-a-half minutes of the third quarter. The Raiders grabbed a four-point lead on Griffith's 15th point of the game. But Griffith would muster just two more points over the final 17 minutes of action, and Millersville stormed back in front by holding the Raiders to four points over the final 7:24 of the third. Stam hit a buzzer beater at the end of the period to put Millersville in front, 41-38.

The fourth quarter belonged to the Marauders. Logan Snyder's three momentarily tied the contest at 43 with 6:53 to play. Robinson answered with a three-point play. Shelby Reimer and Alayah Hall scored on Millersville's next two possessions. Reimer capped a 12-2 run with a three-point play of her own. That put Millersville in front by 10, and Ship never got closer than seven over the final two-plus minutes.

Robinson led the the Marauders with 15 points--her seventh consecutive game in double figures. Kendra Bamberger connected on all five of her shots for 10 points and also grabbed seven boards. Reimer totaled 10 points and handed out a team-high six assists. Yasmin Cooper returned after missing two games and pulled down 10 rebounds.

Millersville's win clinches it a postseason appearance for the 18th time in the last 19 seasons. The Marauders take a break over the weekend and return to the Pucillo Gymnasium hardwood on Monday against Mansfield.