Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Missing head coach, WCU women roll
WEST CHESTER » Despite the absence of its head coach, the West Chester women notched the program’s first conference home basketball victory on Saturday, pulling away late for a solid 7253 triumph over visiting Mercyhurst at Hollinger Field House.
It was the second straight game without Kiera Wooden, who gave birth to twins Carter and Christina on Dec. 4th. But with acting head coach Allison Hostetter filling in, the Golden Rams put on their best defensive performance of the season.
“Coach Wooden will send text messages throughout the game with advice, and I will check them,” Hostetter said. “She can get very excited, so I am trying to keep her blood pressure down by not messing up this temporary position too much.”
Heading in, WCU ranked 17th of 18-teams in the PSAC in scoring defense (76.3). But the Rams limited the Lakers to 39 percent shooting, forced 23 turnovers and had an edge on the boards. West Chester ends a two-game losing skid and improves to 2-3 in the conference (5-3 overall).
“We aren’t a big team, so we need to focus on defense. Defense is going to win games for us,” said point guard Porscha Speller.
“We’ve done a ton of defensive drills the last week of practice, and it showed,” Hostetter added. “I would say this was a
good defensive game. But I always tell the girls: ‘I want more,’ because they can always give more, especially on the defensive end.”
A senior, Speller entered the clash on a scoring tear. She cooled off for much of Saturday’s contest, but came on strong late – pouring in 10 of her 14 points in the fourth quarter -- to help WCU finish off the Lakers (3-1, 5-4).
“Porscha is averaging 19 points a game, but there are going to be days when she is struggling to get shots, especially against a defensive team like Mercyhurst,” Hostetter explained. “But she was a big spark for us down the stretch.
“She gave us that senior attitude.”
After trailing most of the first half, the Rams staged a 16-5 run to start the second. Senior Camden Boehner knocked down a pair from beyond the arc, WCU opened a double-digit lead midway through the third period, and then proceeded to pour it on.
“We came out (of the locker room) strong,” Speller said. “We just kept pushing the basketball, which we didn’t do much in the first half, and got back to playing our game.”
The home team got off to a slow start, and even though the Rams didn’t shoot it well (especially from distance), they battled back to take a 22-22 score into the halftime break.
“I tell everybody on our team that you’re not going
to always have a great offensive game,” Speller said. “So if I’m not doing well scoring, I don’t put my head down. I’ll find something else to do – get rebounds, assists, steals – to help the team out.
“Today I was patient, let it come to me and didn’t force things.”
Sophomore guard Katherine Fisher added 14 points and Boehner chipped in 10 for WCU. Mercyhurst’s Emilee Norris led all scorers with 17.
The Rams will travel to the University of the Sciences on Dec. 19th before taking an 11-day holiday break.
“It all comes back to defense,” Hostetter said. “Now we’re on to USP, who is nationally ranked.”