WEST CHESTER – Despite leading 37-24 at the half, the East Stroudsburg University women's basketball dropped their final game of the season to West Chester, 63-60, on Saturday afternoon at Hollinger Field House.
The Warriors finish their 2021-22 campaign 4-21 overall and 3-19 in the PSAC while the Golden Rams wrap up their year 9-18 and 7-14 in the conference.
Out of the break, West Chester flipped the switch as they used a 17-0 run to grab their first lead of the game at 39-37. The Golden Rams would be in front the rest of the way as the closest the Warriors could get was 50-50 with 5:33 remaining. West Chester would go on to close out the game by outscoring ESU 13-10 to secure the victory but not before a last second shot by Claire Courter came up just short.
Notables
- Graduate student Ryan Weise continued to pick apart opposing defenses as she matched her career-high with 30 points to go along with five rebounds, seven assists and five steals
- Cassie Ksiazek added 17 points while Carley Adams had seven points
- Izzy Vogel, Katie Geisler and Courter each scored two points
- The Warriors finished 23-of-53 (43.4) from the floor and were 5-of-19 (26.13) from beyond the three-point line. In the first half, ESU shot 14-of-26 (53.8)
- West Chest was led by a trio of double figure scorers including Sarah Holweg (15 points), Justyn Roberts (13 points) and Leah Johnson (12 points). Johnson added eight rebounds, seven assists and five steals
- The Golden Rams overcame shooting 2-of-15 (13.3) in the first quarter to finish the game 23-of-61 (37.7) while making 6-of-18 (33.3) from beyond the arc
- Free throws were even as West Chester went 11-of-15 (73.3) while ESU was 9-of-15 (60.0)
How It Happened
- The Warriors came out red hot shooting the basketball and played stellar defense to take a 15-5 lead into the media timeout. ESU used a 13-2 run, was 6-of-11 from the field and forced the West Chester into six turnovers. Over the final 4:23 of the first quarter, ESU outscored the Golden Rams 5-0 to extend their advantage to 20-5.
- West Chester responded to open the second quarter as they used a 7-2 run to force ESU into a timeout. With the score at 22-10, the Warriors answered by scoring 13 of the next 19 points to go back ahead 35-18 but the Golden Rams cut their deficit to 37-24 headed into the half.
- The Golden Rams flipped the switch out of the break as they scored the first 13 points of the second half to time the game at 37-37. Following an ESU timeout, West Chester extended their run to 17-0 before Weise drained a three-pointer to make the score 41-40 and the Golden Rams closed out the third quarter leading 46-42.
- It was back-and-forth to begin the fourth quarter until a quick 5-0 spurt by the Warriors tied the game at 50-50 with 5:33 to go. West Chester answered with an 8-2 run to regain a 60-52 edge but ESU got within three at 60-57 with 1:35 remaining. Johnson would knock down a pair of free throws, but the Warriors had life with eight seconds left as Weise hit a three-pointer to make the score 62-60. After the Golden Rams went one of two at the line, Courter had a chance to send game into overtime but couldn't get the shot to fall.
