EAST STROUDSBURG, Pa. — Makiah Shaw put up a career-best 29 points including five in overtime, but it wasn't enough as the Millersville Marauders fell 69-63 to the East Stroudsburg Warriors Saturday afternoon. Brenna Ortwein added 13 and four steals, but 23 team turnovers and a rough extra session was too much to overcome for head coach Kira Mowen's squad.
 
"We need to do a better job of taking care of the ball," the Marauders' leader said. "I don't think it was anything that they were doing from a pressure standpoint; it was just undisciplined basketball. And we're better than that and we know that. We got slapped a couple times and that made us lose our focus. I think that caused a few turnovers not in the zone, but in the press break, where we broke the press and then had a turnover in front of the bench."
 
Shaw was hot from the start, canning 10 points in the game's first 12 minutes. The forward was automatic from either elbow during this period and scored eight of those 10 on mid-range jumpers. After going quiet for the rest of the half, the senior heated up once more, tallying eight points over a four minute span in the third quarter. Her final stretch of dominance came over the game's final eight minutes including overtime; Shaw tallied nine of the team's 12 total points including two clutch free throws to take a 58–56 lead with 50 seconds remaining in regulation.
 
"She excelled today," Mowen said of her forward's career game.  "We were finding her when she was hot, and she did a good job going at them (the Warriors). She attacked them and fought hard."
 
Her previous career-high of 26 came on Dec. 1, 2023 against California (Pa.), which was also an overtime game. It is also the most points in a single game by a Marauder this season.

Shaw's first-quarter barrage was part of Millersville's 8–0 advantage to start the game. From then on, the Warriors had to work to get even with the Marauders until late in the second quarter. The visitor's offense sputtered and allowed East Stroudsburg to take a 26–24 lead heading into the break because of 13 team turnovers and a one-of-six mark from the charity stripe.
 
The Millersville five emerged from the stoppage with renewed vigor and the teams would battle back and forth until the final minutes of the fourth. Those Shaw free throws at :50 were followed by an East Stroudsburg jumper that tied the game with 24 seconds left, after which Mowen took a timeout to talk it over. With the ball in the frontcourt, the Marauders held for the last shot, eventually getting a last-second corner three that didn't go in.
 
"I put it on me," Mowen said of the final play postgame. "I wasn't clear or direct in what I wanted. It wasn't a draw-up play, it was actually a play that we had, but I wasn't direct. And we didn't execute it the way we needed to so it looked like there was nothing actually drawn up."

The Marauder defense did an excellent job of forcing turnovers and limiting the conference's leading scorer in Emily Chmiel; six players recorded a steal and Kali March and Bryn Zentner both had two in addition to Ortwein's four. Ortwein was nearly automatic from the corners on offense, as nine of her 13 points came on corner threes.
 
Millersville returns to Pucillo Gymnasium for a four-game homestand beginning on Feb. 12 against Kutztown at 5:30 p.m.