Over the past week, the Millersville women’s basketball team has played two games. On Feb. 3, the team entered Pucillo gymnasium to face off against the East Stroudsburg University Warriors.
The game started off strong. Coming off a rebound by Jenna Craig, Raquel Green put up Millersville’s first two points. Millersville’s man-on-man defense strategy kept ESU off the scoreboard until the 16 minute mark, when ESU’s senior forward DeAnna Rayam sank two baskets after being fouled by Green. Around six minutes in, ESU managed a three-pointer. Gabrielle Styles was quick to answer and swiftly came up with four points for the Lady Marauders. Following an eight point run by Mashira Newman, Ashley Moyer, and Dominique Strohman, a visibly frustrated ESU began to call for defense.
After two missed three-pointers, ESU finally managed to add three. Millersville still led 17-10. From there, Green increased Millersville’s lead by five points. Styles and Moyer both added a point to the total. With just under three minutes left in play, ESU rallied to add eight to their total. With 1:17 left, lead scorer Green left the court limping. In her absence, ESU decreased their deficit by five points.
The score was Millersville 26 – ESU 22 at the end of the first half.
In the beginning of the second half, ESU quickly took the opportunity to continue their scoring run, making it within one point of Millersville’s lead. However, a three-pointer from Moyer turned the tables. Craig put up four points. Green followed her lead also adding four, and seemed confident on her ankle. After the game, Craig said of Green “She’s in. She’ll be fine.”
ESU called a team time-out with 13 minutes left in play, but the pause didn’t seem to help the troubled Warriors. ESU continued to fail at turning possessions into baskets, and numerous shots fell short.
Three minutes later, ESU finally scored with a layup by Mia Waringm. ESU continued their perennial call for defense with good reason as they drifted 10 points behind Millersville. Twenty seconds later, Craig scored two for the Lady Marauder’s with an assist from Newman. The score was 46-32.
Three minutes into the second half, a foul by Ashley Moyer provided a hint of what would come. At the end of the second, play got rough and members from both teams were sent crashing to the floor.
Both teams racked up numerous fouls, most occurring during the end of the game. The two teams racked up an astounding 31 fouls in the second half. Becky Hayter of ESU fouled at the 3:56 mark. Her team members Detzi and Mel Villano fouled as well.
Craig was the first to foul on the Millersville team with less than two minutes left in play. Green earned her third foul with 11 seconds remaining.
Newman was fouled twice with less than 40 seconds left. ESU’s Hayter and Barb Borst were responsible for Newman’s added four points which put Millersville ahead of ESU by nine points. Overall, Green scored an impressive 19 points. Newman and Moyer both totaled 11, and Craig earned seven points.
Green scored the final basket for the Lady Marauders. The women won the game 55-46. However, the team was not impressed with their play. “Feels like we lost,” Craig said, “The chemistry wasn’t there tonight like it has been the past six games.” Despite this, freshman Newman came up big.
As predicted, Newman swept past Safiyyah Bashir’s record for steals by a freshman. Newman earned three in the game, putting her total at 73. Bashir’s record of 71 steals had been untouched for 12 years.
After the game, they were scheduled to play West Chester University’s Golden Rams on Saturday, but the Marauders got an unexpected day off when the major snowstorm Friday night postponed their Saturday meet-up with West Chester University to Sunday afternoon.
As the game began, Craig immediately got to work. It only took the senior forward 10 seconds to put up two points for the Marauders. She went on to score 12 points for her team in the first half. Craig, had a total of 11 for the game. She was also the game’s lead scorer.
In comparison, Green started off slow. She managed only four points in the first half, two of those stemming from a foul.
With help from Moyer, Newman, Sophia Waters, and Aurielle Mosely the Lady Marauders extended their lead over the Golden Rams. Moyer’s three-pointer at the 1:45 mark topped out Millersville’s lead at 18 points.
Despite West Chester adding five late points, by the end of the first half Millersville led by an impressive 13 points, with a score of 31-18.
Renata Neal of West Chester was the first to the basket in the second. Two good foul shots by Dominique Strohman six minutes into the game brought the Marauders their widest lead of the second half: 14 points.
On Feb. 13, Millersville will face Kutztown at 1 p.m. Currently, the Lady Marauders are 17-4 overall. The team will enter their next game on a three game winning streak.
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