East Stroudsburg, Pa. -- The third-seeded Marauders earned a trip to the PSAC Semifinals after beating the second-seeded East Stroudsburg Warriors, 91-76. Millersville completed the trilogy against ESU as Millersville won its third straight game this season against the Warriors and its second win over the Warriors in five days.
Millersville earned its first trip to the PSAC Semifinals since the 2012-13 season on the backs of dynamic scorers freshman
Lauren Lister and senior
Alayah Hall. Lister nearly matched her career-high as she scored 28 points on 11-15 shooting against the Warriors. The crafty guard was indefensible as she drove the paint at will. Hall returned to form after suffering from an illness during the PSAC First Round game against Mansfield. Hall scored 24 points on 9-16 shooting and moved up to 17th all-time in scoring with 1,045 career points. Hall's impact was all over the court as she snagged seven rebounds and assisted six more buckets.
Sophomore
Courtney Dimoff and junior
Jade Farquhar added double-digit scoring to Millersville's offensive efforts. Dimoff scored 14 points while shooting 44 percent from downtown. It was the second straight double-digit scoring performance from the guard. Farquhar scored 13 points while shooting perfect from the free throw line.
The Marauders owned the paint as they out-rebounded the Warriors 52-32 and outscored the Warriors 42-32 in the paint. Redshirt junior
Kendra Bamberger snagged a team-high 10 rebounds while Hall, Farquhar, and redshirt junior
Janelle Robinson all snagged seven a piece. The Marauders were opportunistic after missed field goals. The team earned 20 offensive rebounds which led to 24 second-chance points.
The Marauders opened the first quarter with tight defense, and they held the Warriors to 11 points which was the second-lowest scoring first quarter for the Warriors since Millersville held ESU to eight points in the first quarter back in January. The second quarter opened up offensively as the Marauders and Warriors combined for 56 points. ESU's Imani Brown came alive as she scored 18 total points during the first half on 7-8 shooting. The Marauders held Brown, a top-4 scorer in the PSAC, to a combined six points in the first half in their first two games against the Warriors. Freshman
Lauren Lister and senior
Alayah Hall led the charge for the Marauders as the duo each scored 13 points on a combined 9-16 shooting including 7-8 from the free throw line.
ESU tried to disrupt Millersville's rhythm in the second half with the full-court press. The Marauders used crisp passing to break the press, and they capitalized on wide-open driving lanes to the basket. Lister and Hall combined for 26 points on 11-15 shooting as they took full advantage of the clear paths to the basket. When the lanes closed in on Lister and Hall, they passed the ball back out to the three point arch where the Marauders capitalized on open looks from downtown. The Marauders shot 5-11 from the three point line in the second half as Dimoff, freshman
Courtney Dimoff, Farquhar, and Robinson all drained long-range shots to help keep the Warriors out of reach.
The Millersville defense tightened up again in the second half after giving up 29 points in the second quarter. The Marauders closed out shooters quickly and held the Warriors to 2-17 shooting from the three point line. Over the three games against ESU this season, Millersville held ESU to a combined 16-78 shooting from the three point line. As an offense that thrived on the fifth-most made three pointers in the conference, ESU was severely disrupted all three games against Millersville's three point defense.
Millersville saved its best basketball for last. The Marauders are 9-2 since Jan. 24 and are on a season-high five game winning streak. During their five game winning streak, the Marauders have won by an average of 12.2 points per game while holding their opponents to only 61.2 points per game.
The Marauders have a tall task ahead of them as they head to Indiana, Pa., on March 3rd to take on the nationally-ranked and current defending PSAC Champion Crimson Hawks in the PSAC Semifinals. No. 8 IUP won the dominant PSAC West Division and earned the overall number one seed in the conference. Tip-off is scheduled for 3:30 p.m.
