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Millersville

Kali March

Women's basketball looks to bounce back against Shippensburg

1/2/2025 1:00:00 PM

By: Wes Champlin, Athletic Communications Graduate Assistant

COVERAGE LINKS

  • Series vs. Shippensburg: 51–55
  • Series streak: W2
  • First meeting: L, 14–15 (1921-22)
  • Last meeting: W, 57–53 (Feb. 7, 2024)
  • Last 10 meetings: 5–5
  • Most ‘Ville points: 89
  • Record at home: 19–11
  • Kira Mowen vs. Shippensburg: 2–0
  • Kristy Trn vs. Millersville: 19–24

ABOUT THE GAME

  • The Millersville Marauders (8-4, 3-2) begin Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) East play against the visiting Shippensburg Raiders (5-6, 2-3) Friday evening. Millersville has just the PSAC East slate remaining on its regular season schedule, where they will take on each team in the division twice. The Marauders are currently tied atop the East Division standings with Lock Haven after the conclusion of PSAC Crossover play. 

SCOUTING THE MARAUDERS

  • The Marauders enter the new year hoping to return to their early-season form after dropping back-to-back games against Clarion and No. 17 IUP to end 2024. Their 3-3 record in December may have been a step down from the 5-1 November they posted, but it must be considered that each of their losses were by single digits to regionally ranked teams.
  • It was the extra opportunities by way of offensive rebounds and turnovers that sunk the Marauder's upset bid against the Crimson Hawks on Dec. 23. They played excellent first-shot defense but were a -7 in the offensive rebounds category; that, along with a -6 in the turnover battle led to 12 more shots for IUP, which was the difference. Turnovers have been an issue for the Marauders against better teams all season; they are averaging over 21 per game in contests decided by 10 points or fewer.
  • The Marauders shot defense continues to be among the best in the nation, as they've held the opposition to less than 33.3% from the field in every conference game so far. Junior center Morgan Mahoney leads the PSAC in total blocks (21) and blocks per game (1.8) and is on pace to smash her previous career high in blocks set last season. While Mahoney showed that ability at times last season, what's been the big difference in 2024-25 is her foul avoidance; last year, she averaged 5.2 fouls per 40 minutes–this year, that number is down to 3.6.
  • The Marauders' two leading scorers have been grad transfer Kali March (12.6 PPG) and senior forward Makiah Shaw (12.1 PPG). March and Shaw are both on track to reach the 1,000 career points milestone sometime in January. Shaw has spent all four of her seasons as a Marauder and has 942 career points entering 2025. March spent her first four seasons at Division III Cornell College and totaled 810 points over 74 games played entering the 2024-25 campaign. She's recorded 151 thus far this season, giving her 961 total points and putting her just 39 from the milestone.

SCOUTING THE RAIDERS

  • The Raiders are just 5-6 on the season but five of those six losses have come to teams that were then ranked in the D2CSC Top 25 or are now currently ranked. The PSAC Crossover schedule did them no favors, as they had to face No. 5 Seton Hill, No. 11 Gannon and No. 17 IUP. Their December slate was relatively thin, as they played just four games. Shippensburg's put together back-to-back wins over Clarion and Chestnut Hill entering this clash with the Marauders. 
  • Those recent victories coincided with the return of sophomore guard Mia Johnson, who leads the team in scoring at 11.3 points per game. She missed nearly a month after suffering an injury against Seton Hill on Nov. 23. She poured in a season-high 16 points against Chestnut Hill on New Year's Eve, but it was senior guard Taja Colbert who led the Raiders with 18. Colbert's reached double-figures in each of the last four games and ranks second on the team in points at 9.9. She's the team's lead guard and will be on the floor nearly the entire game, as she's averaging 34.9 mpg, which ranks third in the conference (right behind Millersville's Kali March at 35.6 mpg). 
  • That duo along with sophomore guard Bella Chimienti figure to be the focal point of the Raiders' offense, as they all average more than nine shots per game. Chimienti leads the team in shot attempts but can help her team win without scoring the ball, demonstrated by her 7-6-5 line in the win over Chestnut Hill. 
  • Shippensburg's starting lineup has been in flux all season; seniors Colbert and Abbie Miller are the only two who have started all 11 games this year. In fact, 10 different players have started a game for the Raiders this season. Part of the reason for this is the team's youth, as they have just three upperclassmen who see regular action. 

SERIES HISTORY

  • Kira Mowen fared well in her first two meetings with the 27-year veteran Kristy Trn, sweeping her more experienced peer in 2024. That was just the latest installment of a 103-year-old rivalry that dates back to the 1921-22 season and features 106 meetings. Aside from a more than two decade stretch between the 1945-46 and 1968-69 seasons in which Shippensburg won 17 of 18 games, it has been an evenly matched rivalry with an all-time record of 51-55 in the Raiders' favor. 

PSAC ROUNDUP & STANDINGS

  • Lock Haven has joined the ‘Ville at the top of the East Division standings with a record of 3-2 at the conclusion of PSAC Crossover play. They are the only two schools in the East with records above .500, as the West wholly owned that portion of the schedule. With a 2-3 record, Shippensburg sits third while the rest of the division’s six teams are all 1-4. The West is an entirely different story, with a three-way tie between undefeated teams in Seton Hill, IUP and Edinboro. The division's punching bag thus far has been Pitt-Johnstown, who's still looking for its first conference win of the season. 
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