SHEPHERDSTOWN, W. Va. – Behind six double figure scorers, the East Stroudsburg University women's basketball team got back on track as the Warriors downed Shepherd, 84-76, in the PSAC East opener on Saturday afternoon at the Butcher Center.
Following a season-high 84 points and the most since March 2, 2019, the Warriors snapped a three-game losing streak to improve to 4-8 on the season and 2-5 in the PSAC while the Rams (3-9, 1-5 PSAC) dropped their fourth consecutive game.
In 14 minutes off the bench junior
Emily Chmiel finished one rebound (9) shy of a double-double, hit seven of her nine shot attempts and finished with 16 points, her highest total so far in 12 games as a Warrior. Junior
Izzy Vogel scored 15 points while stuffing the stat with five rebounds, three steals, two blocks and an assist.
Carley Adams continued to do it all for ESU as the senior finished with a career-high 15 points (8-14 FT), three rebounds, two assists, one steal and a block in 37 minutes.
Juniors
Katie Geisler and
Cassidy Saylor added 12 points each and combined for 14 rebounds, while Saylor set a career high in assists with six.
In 33 minutes, junior
Corrin Gill scored 10 points while adding two rebounds, two steals, one assist and a block.
Today's game marked just the second time in program history since 2002-03 that six Warriors notched double figures and first since November 19, 2016, when Imani Brown (14), Rebecca Rutowski (12), Allison Howard (13), Noelle Powell (12), Rachel Falkowski (11) and Jordan Hertz (11) accomplished the feat.
Notables
- The six Warriors combined for 80 of ESU's 84 points scored as freshman Kaitlyn McGeary added three while sophomore Caitlin Marten knocked down a free throw
- Peyton Grant (four rebounds, one assist) led Shepherd and the game with 17 points while Sydney Bolles (three blocks, one steal) tallied a double-double on 12 points and 10 rebounds.
- The Warriors finished with their best shooting percentage of the season going 29-for-65 overall (44.6%) as well as 3-for-8 (37.5%) from three-point territory
- Shepherd finished 22-for-56 (39.3%) from the floor and knocked down 8-for-17 (47.1%) beyond the arc
- With the teams combining for 67 free throws, the Rams shot a notable 80% on 24-for-30 while the Warriors went 23-for-37 (62.2%)
- ESU controlled the glass as the Warriors outrebounded Shepherd 48-36 overall and 21-12 on the offensive end which they turned into 23 second chance points compared to only seven for the Rams
- ESU capitalized off 15 Shepherd turnovers as the Warriors turned them into 19 points
- The Warriors are now 5-2 all-time against Shepherd, having won the last three matchups following last year's season sweep
How It Happened
- The Warriors grabbed a 6-0 lead at the 6:35 mark in the first quarter before the Rams knocked down a three-pointer to get on the scoreboard. Over the final few minutes of the period, ESU proceeded to outscore Shepherd by four points (11-7) to extend the advantage to 17-10.
- It was back and forth through the first four minutes of the second quarter as Shepherd slowly trimmed the deficit to 27-23, until Saylor made consecutive layups to put ESU back ahead 31-23 with 5:11 on the clock. The Rams continued to battle with an 8-1 run to pull within one at 33-32, but the Warriors closed out the half by scoring seven of the final 11 points for a 39-35 lead.
- Out of the halftime break, each team scored 10 points through the first 5:43 of the third period as ESU maintained a four-point edge at 49-45. However, the Warriors caught fire with a quick 6-0 spurt to match their largest lead of the day, 55-45. Over the last 2:39 of the quarter, ESU and Sheperd both poured in eight points to make the score 63-53 in favor of ESU.
- With ESU ahead 67-57 early in the fourth quarter, a three-pointer got the Rams within seven until the Warriors rattled off an 8-2 run to extend the lead to 75-62 (4:50). Then with four minutes remaining, Shepherd wouldn't go down without a fight as the Rams produced a 12-4 spurt to cut ESU's advantage to 79-74 with 1:00 to go. ESU would ice the game down the stretch as they converted 5-of-7 at the free line, making the final score 84-76.
Up Next
ESU wraps up the three-game road trip on Saturday, January 13 as the Warriors travel to West Chester to take on the PSAC East preseason favorite Golden Rams at 1 p.m. from Hollinger Field House
