Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Rams start new streak with win over UPJ
WEST CHESTER >> Four days after its January winning streak was snapped at five, West Chester started what it hopes is another streak with a 64-52 triumph over Pitt-Johnstown on Wednesday at Hollinger Field House.
It wasn’t aesthetically pleasing, but it was an important win against a quality foe from the PSAC West as the Golden Rams fight for positioning for the upcoming conference tournament. West Chester (6-7, 10-11 overall) has won five of last six and now pulls into sole possession of fourth place in the PSAC East with seven regular season outings to go. The top six make the playoffs.
“It was downright ugly,” admitted WCU head coach Kiera Wooden.
But Wooden was happy to see her team make strides on defense. The Mountain Cats shot just 30 percent for the game, and the Rams forced 19 turnovers and turned them into 36 points.
“After (Saturday’s) loss to Shippensburg, we’ve been focusing in practice on the defensive end, so it was good to see that it translated to game day,” Wooden said. “I thought we played hard and physical, but we need to do a better job of communicating.”
The Rams started strong and nearly led wire to wire, but PittJohnstown (6-7, 10-10) never gave up, despite its shooting woes. The Cats’ pulled to within seven, 5346, with just under three minutes to go. But WCU ended the contest by scoring 11 of the final 17 points.
“I was concerned that we took some ill-advised shots and we weren’t taking care of the ball,” Wooden said. “But after (UPJ) cut into the lead, we kept our composure. Down the stretch we made some key stops and some key foul shots, which we didn’t do Saturday.”
Forward Madison Torresin began the final push with a pair of inside buckets, and then surprise starter, Rylee Power, got a steal and made two free throws to make it 59-50 with 1:03 on the clock. The Rams ended up knocking down 5 of 6 from the line in the final few minutes.
“It was big for us to bounce back,” said junior guard Katherine Fisher. “The Shippensburg game was a big disappointment for us. We’ve already played most of the top teams in the (PSAC) West and this was the first win.
“We know the West has an impact on our standings in the East as well as the regional rankings. So this was big. The reason we started so poorly this season was that we didn’t win any games against the West.”
The Rams raced to a 19-5 first quarter lead thanks to the scoring of Fisher, and a strong defensive effort, holding the Mountain Cats to .143 percent shooting.
“Once we got going, we turned turnovers into points,” said Fisher, who scored 11 of her 14 points in the opening quarter.
Torresin led all scorers with 20, and the redshirt senior is averaging nearly 20 per game in the last seven outings. She missed the 2018-18 season with a knee injury. Power chipped in 13 points.
“Rylee is always ready. Today I called her number and she produced,” Wooden said.
“The more scoring threats we have, the harder it is to defend us. We’ve been saying lately: ‘everybody eats.’ And with Maddy (Torresin) coming into her own really helps that and opens up things for other people.”