MILLERSVILLE, Pa. — Millersville Women's Basketball looked to continue its winning ways in the new year against PSAC East foe Bloomsburg Saturday afternoon. The Marauders did just that, defeating the Huskies 62-59 behind Makiah Shaw's 25 points and a strong team defensive effort.
 
It was the Marauder offense that struck first, hitting five of their first eight attempts from the floor to take an 11-5 lead just under four minutes into the game. Jabria Ingram and Sophie Elstone started the scoring with layups but Shaw took over after that, recording the next seven for the hosts.
 
After entering a lull through the remainder of the first quarter, the offense picked back up again in the second. Millersville entered the break with a nine-point advantage due to shooting 70% from the field. La'Shyra Williams, coming off of back-to-back games with 19 and 22 points made her mark in this span. She capped off the period with a layup through contact to garner an extra free throw. Williams calmly knocked it down for her third three-point play of the half.
 
The Marauder defense, especially Elstone and Brenna Ortwein, was also a major factor in the 33-24 advantage. Both guards recorded steals on the defensive end and turned them into fastbreak layups.
 
The Huskies were not deterred by their second-half deficit, however. They went on an 11-3 run over the next five minutes to cut the lead to two before taking their first lead of the contest at 40-38. Neither team would create an advantage of more than five for the rest of the game. Part of this was the absence of Williams, who picked up her fourth foul with 8:39 remaining in the third and wouldn't reenter until the fourth quarter.
 
After netting six of her 25 in the span of a minute earlier on in the final quarter, Shaw gave Millersville the lead for good with a layup with 2:44 remaining. Two free throws from Ingram and a bucket from Williams extended their lead to 61-56 in the final minute. A Bloomsburg three gave them the chance to tie on the final possession, but the Marauder defense held to secure the victory.

GAME NOTES

• Millersville levels the all-time series with Bloomsburg at 46-46. After losing the previous four matchups, the 'Ville has taken three straight from the Huskies.
• The Marauders claim sole possession of fourth place in the PSAC East with the victory. Their record is back to even in conference play at 4-4.
• With a Men's Basketball win in the second game of this doubleheader, Millersville Basketball will remain undefeated in 2024. The women are 3-0 and the men are 2-0, looking to go 3-0.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Shaw's 25 points marks the second-most she's scored in her career and the most she's tallied in a regulation game. She set her career-best mark of 26 on Dec. 1 against California (Pa.) in an overtime game. It's the third time the junior has cleared the 20-point mark in her career.
• Despite being limited by foul trouble, Williams reached double-digits in points for the third consecutive game. She also finished a game-high plus 11 in her 27 minutes.
• The Marauders won the turnover battle for the second consecutive game. They had done that just once this season prior to facing Shippensburg on Jan. 10.  

POSTGAME REACTION FROM HEAD COACH KIRA MOWEN

• On Ingram & the new starting lineup: "Jabria, in all honesty, needed to learn me and our system. And as her head coach, I needed to give her the confidence to do what she's been doing. And it's been nothing short of fantastic. Today she had nine assists and three turnovers. When your point guard has more assists than turnovers, that always helps."
• On how foul trouble affected the gameplan: "Not being able to play Shy (La'Shyra Williams) almost the entire third quarter was tough. But we had people step up: Morgan stepped up, Makiah stepped up, even Jillian Crawford, she went in and played the four. And then again, it's just locking in with the defensive effort. We don't have one of our top post players that can rebound so everybody else has to help rebound. So it's really by committee and I thought that the team pulled together and really did a good job to support that."

UP NEXT

• Millersville looks for its fourth win in a row when it hosts Shepherd at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 17.