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Millersville

Sophia Elstone

Women's basketball looks to upend second-place Kutztown in consequential PSAC clash

| By: Wes Champlin, Athletic Communications Graduate Assistant

COVERAGE LINKS

  • Series vs. Kutztown: 63–30
  • Series Streak: L1
  • First Meeting: W, 69–55 (1975-76)
  • Last Meeting: L, 49–69 (Jan. 18, 2025)
  • Last 10 Meetings: 4–6
  • Most ‘Ville Points: 92
  • Record at Millersville: 35–8
  • Kira Mowen vs. Kutztown: 1–2
  • Janet Malouf vs. Millersville: 20–44

ABOUT THE GAME

  • The Millersville Marauders (13–9, 8–7) are homeward bound for just the fourth time in 2025 as they take on the Kutztown Golden Bears (14–10, 9–6) with an opportunity to climb as high as second place in the East. The Golden Bears handled the Marauders with relative ease in their meeting in Kutztown on Jan. 18 and are in the midst of a PSAC-best eight game winning streak dating back to Jan. 13.

SCOUTING THE MARAUDERS

  • The Marauders have struggled to establish consistency since entering PSAC East play on Jan. 3. Since that date, they are 5–5 with wins of 42 and 32 points but losses of 22 and 31 points; seven of those 10 games were away from the ‘Ville including the two blowout losses. That consistency could come during this upcoming four-game homestand, as Millersville hasn’t suffered a double-digit loss at Pucillo Gymnasium since the season's opening weekend despite facing two nationally ranked opponents.
  • Makiah Shaw has suddenly taken her game to another level after experiencing a similar rollercoaster ride through the middle third of the 2024-25 campaign. It has been a tale of three seasons for the Marauder senior: she averaged 16.4 PPG on 59.6% from the field over her first five games, 8.7 PPG on 42.3% over her next 11 games, and 14.8 PPG on 54.4% over the last six games. Despite those differences, the biggest improvement has been on defense, where she's averaged 1.7 blocks and 1.2 steals per game over those last six contests, totaling 10 blocks and seven steals; those totals over six games match her totals for the entire previous 16.  Her career-high 29 point outing on Feb. 8 against East Stroudsburg combined with that defensive improvement earned her the PSAC East Athlete of the Week honor for last week.
  • All the numbers point to Kali March, the Marauders' leading scorer at 13.3 PPG, bouncing back after a five-point game against East Stroudsburg. She had a season-best eight rebounds and seven assists in that game and entered that contest having scored 10 or more in eight of her last nine games. Standing at five-foot-seven, the grad transfer has made an impact on the defensive end throughout the season by being savvy and keeping her hands active; March has had a steal in 17 straight games dating back to Nov. 23.
  • While she's always been a problem for the opposition on defense, Brenna Ortwein's recent contributions on the offensive end cannot be understated. She's averaged 10.6 PPG and 3.3 APG over her last seven games while turning it over an average of 1.4 times per game. The difference lies in the effectiveness of her jumpshot, which has been lethal be it from the corner mid-range or beyond the arc. Ortwein has averaged just under two made threes per game on 50% shooting over those last seven games, double her total of five threes from the previous 15 games combined.

SCOUTING THE GOLDEN BEARS

  • Kutztown has been on an absolute heater over the past month, rattling off eight straight since Jan. 13 and vaulting itself into second place in the PSAC East standings. The biggest difference can be seen in the stats page of graduate student Abbey Hearn, who got her first start of the season against Bloomsburg on Jan. 15 and has started six of seven games played since then. She entered that contest averaging just 5.9 PPG and has averaged 15.4 PPG in the seven games since including a 26-point game against Clarion. Despite being one of the tallest players in the conference at six-foot-two, Hearn has taken about a fifth of her shots from three-point territory this season. 
  • A constant throughout the season has been five-foot-10 senior guard Naia Pulliam, who is arguably the the conference's most effective three-level scorer. She's fourth in the PSAC in scoring at 17.5 PPG and is pouring it in at a 52.4% clip even while taking over a third of her attempts from beyond the arc, where she shoots 36.9%. Millersville held the two-time first team All-PSAC selection relatively in check during the team's previous meeting on Jan. 18, as she had 15 points. 
  • The Golden Bears feature just four players on their roster averaging more than five points per game: those two, Leila Hurley and Olivia Smelas. Hurley was absent for the the Jan. 18 contest but returned a few games later, giving her eight games played in 2025. She's reached double digits in seven of those including two 20+ point performances against Mansfield. Smelas, a six-foot-one center, leads Kutztown in rebounding at 7.0 a game. Marauder fans who watched that Jan. 18 game know this all to well, as she grabbed 13 rebounds and scored 13 points in 28 minutes to secure her first double-double of the season. 

SERIES HISTORY

  • The Golden Bears took the first matchup on Jan. 18 by a score of 69-49 in a game that got away from the Marauders in the third quarter. Traditionally, Millersville's been the dominant one in this matchup with a record of 63-30 all-time; that's even more true when playing in Pucillo Gymnasium, where the Marauders have won 35 of the pair's 43 meetings. Kira Mowen and her team went 1–1 against the Golden Bears last season and look to do the same Wednesday night. 

PSAC EAST ROUNDUP

  • Kutztown has been the story of the East division with its eight-game winning streak over the past month. A half-game ahead of the Golden Bears is Lock Haven with a 10–6 conference record while Bloomsburg, Millersville, West Chester and East Stroudsburg are within a half-game of each other from third to sixth. The top four teams in the West (Seton Hill, Edinboro, Gannon and IUP) have already secured playoff berths and Pitt-Johnstown is still searching for its first PSAC win.
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