EAST STROUDSBURG - The East Stroudsburg University men's basketball team will look for its 11th win in a row, and the women's team will open defense of its back-to-back PSAC East championships when the Warriors host Cheyney on Wednesday night beginning at 6 p.m. at Koehler Fieldhouse.
The men's team is in the midst of its longest winning streak in 35 years, and a win over Cheyney would give ESU its first streak of at least 11 straight victories since the 1942-43 season.
The Warriors are led by senior forward Channon Easley, who had a career-high 22 points in an 83-71 win at California on Saturday for ESU's first sweep of the PSAC West in school history. Easley is second in the PSAC in blocked shots and fifth in rebounding and is the last line of a defense that is allowing just 58.3 points and a 37.1 field goal percentage over the 10-game winning streak.
ESU has also received contributions from sophomore guard Andy Heimbach, the team's leading scorer who paces the PSAC in three-point percentage (49.4) and three-pointers per game (3.4). Senior forward Josh Wentz is a three-year starter who has hit double figures in eight of the last nine games, and had a tip-in at the buzzer to give ESU a 58-56 win at Shippensburg in the second game of the streak.
Junior Pat Fleury leads the PSAC with 6.0 assists per game in his first season as the starting point guard. Classmate Chris Bach is also in his first year as a starter at forward and has contributed 8.8 points and 6.0 rebounds per game, along with 1.5 blocked shots, good for fifth in the conference.
In the women's game, junior guard Jackie Yandrisevits headlines a team that has won consecutive PSAC East championships. ESU's leading scorer in each of her first two years, Yandrisevits is in the middle of the best scoring streak of her career, averaging 20.5 points over the last seven games.
Yandrisevits scored a career-high 35 points in ESU's 96-89 OT win over Moravian in its last home game and went over the 1,000-point mark for her career. She is sixth in the PSAC in scoring with 16.0 points per game and also leads the Warriors in rebounding.
Senior forward Monika Fogelsanger was also a starter on both PSAC East title winners and is averaging a career-best 9.3 points per game. Fogelsanger is one of the top free throw shooters in school history and is fourth in the league at 85.0 percent this season.
Sophomore guard DeAnna Rayam is the top three-point shooter in the conference at 46.7 percent and is averaging 15.0 points over the last three games, including a career-high 17 against Moravian. Freshman guard Kristen Murray has won three PSAC East Rookie of the Week awards, and sophomore guard Mel Villano has been hot from the three-point line in the last five contests.
Wednesday's doubleheader is the first of four straight home games for the Warriors, who will host the University of the Sciences on Saturday at 1 and 3 p.m. and continue PSAC East action next week against Bloomsburg and West Chester.
