Despite a strong performance by senior forward Alex Lennon, the West Chester women’s basketball season came to an end on Saturday afternoon as they lost to Kutztown, 83-72, in the first round of the PSAC Tournament.
Playing on the road as the No. 5 seed against No. 4 Kutztown, West Chester was up-and-down to say the least in the team’s playoff opener, at one point leading the game by nine points. But Kutztown rattled off a 27-7 run to finish the game, including 14 unanswered points during the middle part of the second half. That put the game out of reach for the Rams.
West Chester had a hard time stopping Kutztown throughout the game. The Bears managed to shoot 55.4 percent from the field, including 60 percent in the second half. Compare that with the Lady Rams’ 40 percent shooting over the course of the game, and you have the perfect recipe for a tough loss. Kutztown actually was able to make one more field goal than West Chester (31) despite only putting up 56 shots compared to the Lady Rams’ 75.
Rebounding was a key factor in the loss for West Chester. The Bears out-rebounded the Rams 45-28 over the course of the game. Alex Lennon actually grabbed 11 rebounds for the Rams in her 19th career double-double, but the rest of the team failed to pick up the slack.
Kutztown was led by Natalya Lee, who scored 20 points. Four other Bears finished in double figures, including Ashley Wood with 17, Advia Campbell with 16, Alyssa Bonenberger with 12, and Tanejha Smith with 10.
The Lady Rams, on the other hand, had only two scorers in double figures besides Lennon: Ambreelinne Ortman with 16, and Brittany Sicinski with 15.
“This game was definitely a microcosm of the season,” West Chester head coach Deirdre Kane told the school athletic website. “There was this disjointedness to the season. We could never find the answer. We were stuck on 65 [points] for an awfully long time.”
“That’s what we’ve been talking about all year,” Lennon said, after her last game in a West Chester uniform. “We’ve had trouble putting 40 minutes of basketball together all season.”
With the loss, West Chester’s season comes to an end, as it will not be possible for the Lady Rams to earn an at-large bid to the NCAA Division II Tournament. The team is not ranked in the top eight spots in the Atlantic regional rankings, which is a requirement to make it to the tournament as an at-large. Kutztown is not even in the top eight as of this week.
Earlier in the week, the Lady Rams had ended their regular season with an overwhelming 88-62 victory over cross-county rivals Cheyney.
Lennon scored a career-high 29 points and recorded her 18th career double-double in what was her last regular season college game. Along with being a career high, Lennon’s 29 points were the highest total by a West Chester player since Kiesha Mack scored 33 against Bloomsburg in 2004, according to the school’s athletic website. Also, Lennon moved into 10th place on the all-time West Chester scoring list, and she became just the 20th female in NCAA history to register 300 career blocked shots.
While Lennon will be moving on, along with fellow seniors Ortman, Meghan Kerrigan, and Carly Strickland, the future still looks bright for the Lady Rams. The freshman guard trio of Sicinski, Jasmen Clark, and Dallas Ely blossomed into regular contributors as this season progressed. They are likely to become key players for the Lady Rams as their careers continue. Guard Paige Elliott will also return for one more year. Size may become an issue for the team as they transition into next season, with all of the regular contributors at forward graduating. Sophomore forward Serifat Junaid will be an important factor as the Rams try to improve on what they accomplished this season.
Joey Samuel is a fourth-year student majoring in political science and Spanish. He can be reached at JS719745@wcupa.edu.