On Tuesday, March 1, the West Chester University Lady Rams basketball team traveled to arch-rival Millersville University for the quarterfinals of the PSAC Postseason Tournament. West Chester hung tough with the Marauders but could not come away with a victory as they fell to Millersville 70-65. This marked the first time since 2007 that the Lady Rams failed to reach the PSAC semifinals.
“We performed an exorcism to get the devil out from Saturday and I think we did a good job with that,” head coach Deirdre Kane said. “I was real proud of them. It would have been horrendous if we had performed today the way we did Saturday for our four seniors, who have won 78 games in four years. For them to go out the way we did today, they should have their heads held high.”
“This was the same result on Saturday but we played our hearts out,” junior guard Allison Hostetter said. “One day you have a lot of games left and before you know it, it’s your last game.”
West Chester jumped out to a quick lead in the first half, but the Marauders fought back to take the lead midway through the first half.
Even with two of their best players in early foul trouble, Millersville led by seven at halftime as they shot 35.5 percent from the field while the Lady Rams shot 30.8 percent. The Marauders leading scorer and rebounder Aurielle Mosley and starter Gabrielle Styles each picked up three fouls in the first half, but Millersville outscored West Chester 15-8 to end the first half.
“We just could not take advantage of it,” Kane said. “That’s a testament to [Millersville]. That was a key stretch. That was our chance when Mosley was on the bench.”
In the second half, West Chester put together a couple of rallies to get back into the game. In the first four and a half minutes of the second half, the Lady Rams went on a 13-4 run to tie the game. Hostetter, junior guard Jill Keefer and sophomore forward Alex Lennon all contributed during the run.
Over the next eight minutes the Marauders went on a run of their own to regain control of the game. Trailing by seven, with seven and a half minutes left in the game, West Chester mounted another run.
In three minutes, the Lady Rams went on a 9-2 run to tie the game at 60. Senior guard Megan Stewart and sophomore Ambreelinne Ortman scored all nine points during the run.
With the score tied, West Chester gave up the next nine points to go down 69-60 as they were not able to recover from that run. Millersville hit four consecutive shots in the run.
“We didn’t quit and we didn’t go away,” Kane said. “But I think Millersville just hit some big-time shots at the end of the game.”
Stewart playing in her final career game, finished with 14 points, five assists and two rebounds. Senior forward Mary Kate Serratelli finished with six points, three assists and two rebounds. Lennon added 14 points, seven rebounds, four blocks and an assist. Hostetter finished with 11 points, a game-high 15 rebounds and five assists.
“We had great chemistry on this team,” Stewart said. “We played well together. I don’t think any of the seniors were prepared for this. We all expected to win tonight. Right now it’s disappointing we came up short, but we did have great careers here. And I couldn’t ask for a better coaching staff. They really make you feel like a part of a family here.”
The Lady Rams shot seven free throws, none of which came in the second half, for the entire game. The Marauders in contrast shot 20 free throws for the game. West Chester shot 41.1 percent from the field for the game, while Millersville shot 43.5 percent.
Three named to All-PSAC Team
West Chester led the way in the East with three all-conference selections. Stewart was a first team honoree with Hostetter and Lennon named to the second team.
Stewart led the conference in assists (5.5 apg) and ranked fifth in steals (2.9 spg) while placing 15th in scoring (12.9 ppg). The senior point guard broke the school record for career steals (324) and finished second all-time in career assists (490). She scored over 1,000 points in her career and was a four-year letter winner as the team’s starting point guard each of the last four seasons.
Hostetter ranked third on the Golden Rams in scoring, averaging 12.3 points per game and led the squad in rebounding (9.4). Her rebounds per game is the highest single-season average for a guard in school history Her 331 points this winter is a career-best. She has 786 career points heading into her senior campaign.
Lennon stormed onto the scene this past winter and was a force inside for the Golden Rams. She shattered the school’s single-season record for blocked shots with 87. Her 3.2 rejections per game tied for the league lead and ranked among the top 10 in the country. Her 126 career blocked shots in just two seasons is already third all-time at West Chester. Lennon was just as effective at the offensive end of the court, finishing second on the team in scoring with a 12.5 ppg average this year.
LJ Harrell is a graduate student majoring in communications studies. He can be reached at LH639694@wcupa.edu.