West Chester to Host PSAC Women's Basketball Tournament Semifinals and Championship
PSAC Women's Basketball Weekly Release - Mar. 4
For the second straight year, the quadrangle of teams featurings Millersville, West Chester, California (Pa.) and IUP will make up the semfinals of the PSAC women's basketball tournament. This year, the tournament is being held at the highest remaining Eastern Division seed, which this year is West Chester. Last year, IUP defeated Cal in the championship game on IUP's home floor.
PSAC Tournament Quick Hits
- California (Pa.), IUP, Millersville and West Chester will make up the semifinal field for the second straight year.
- This marks the third straight year that California (Pa.), IUP and Millersville have all been part of the semifinals
- This will be the eighth straight year that both California (Pa.) and Millersville will be a part of the PSAC semifinals
- This is the ninth straight year that California (Pa.) has made it to the semifinals
- IUP has won the last two PSAC Tournament titles
- California (Pa.) has also played in the championship game in each of the last eight consecutive seasons
- IUP and California (Pa.) have met in the championship game in each of the last two seasons.
- The Crimson Hawks will be looking to become the first team to win three straight tournament titles since Cal from 2002-04
- The Western Division has won the last three, 12 of the last 13, and 14 of the last 16 tournament titles (Shippensburg played in the Western Division up until this year). Millersville is the only Eastern Division school since 1995 to win a title, that coming in 2005.
PSAC Tournament History (since 1982)
Year Champion Championship Game
2008 IUP IUP 67, California (Pa.) 63
2007 IUP IUP 63, California (Pa.) 53
2006 California (Pa.) California (Pa.) 63, Edinboro 59
2005 Millersville Millersville 76, California (Pa.) 71
2004 California (Pa.) California (Pa.) 87, Shippensburg 54
2003 California (Pa.) California (Pa.) 58, West Chester 54
2002 California (Pa.) California (Pa.) 63, Millersville 60
2001 Shippensburg Shippensburg 86, California (Pa.) 71
2000 Shippensburg Shippensburg 83, Millersville 57
1999 Shippensburg Shippensburg 92, IUP 85
1998 Shippensburg Shippensburg 83, Edinboro 80 (ot)
1997 Shippensburg Shippensburg 89, Edinboro 74
1996 Shippensburg Shippensburg 87, Slippery Rock 67
1995 East Stroudsburg East Stroudsburg 80, Clarion 71
1994 Clarion Clarion 71, California (Pa.) 69
1993 Clarion Clarion 104, Edinboro 81
1992 Bloomsburg Bloomsburg 70, Edinboro 40
1991 Clarion Clarion 87, Lock Haven 71
1990 Edinboro Edinboro 77, Lock Haven 67
1989 Lock Haven Lock Haven 70, Edinboro 62
1988 IUP IUP 68, Millersville 50
1987 Millersville Millersville 87, Lock Haven 71
1986 Slippery Rock Slippery Rock 74, East Stroudsburg 58
1985 Lock Haven Lock Haven 75, East Stroudsburg 67
1984 Millersville Millersville 69, Shippensburg 54
1983 Cheyney Cheyney 89, Slippery Rock 38
1982 Cheyney Cheyney 92, Slippery Rock 33
Game Previews
Millersville vs. California (Pa.)
Friday, March 6 - 5:30 p.m.
Leading Scorers
Millersville - Gladine St. Julien (14.9 ppg); Ashley Moyer (9.2 ppg); Jenna Craig (8.9 ppg)
California (Pa.) - Brooque Williams (22.5 ppg); Kayla Smith (16.6 ppg); Lindsay Johnson (12.8 ppg)
Leading Rebounders
Millersville - Jenna Craig (9.6 rpg); Gladine St. Julien (6.8 rpg); Raquel Green (5.7 rpg)
California (Pa.) - Brooque Williams (10.8 rpg); Kayla Smith (8.4 rpg); Lindsay Johnson (5.6 rpg)
Other Top Performers
Millersville - Jenna Philo (90 asst.); Aiesha Bellamy (77 asst., 56 steals)
California (Pa.) - Crystal Andrews (131 asst., 102 steals); Brooque Williams (96 asst., 103 steals)
2008-09 Meetings
Jan. 4 (at Millersville) - California (Pa.) 76, Millersville 60
PSAC Rankings
Millersville California (Pa.)
Scoring Off. - 9th (66.5) Scoring Off. - 1st (79.2)
Scoring Def. - 2nd (51.9) Scoring Def. - 3rd (55.7)
Free Throw Pct. - 16th (63.2%) Free Throw Pct. - 14th (64.9%)
FG Pct. Off. - 10th (39.9%) FG Pct. Off. - 2nd (46.6%)
FG Pct. Def. - 1st (34.8%) FG Pct. Def. - 6th (37.6%)
3-pt. FG Pct. - 8th (32.9%) 3-pt. FG Pct. - 4th (36.3%)
3-pt. FG Pct. Def. - 5th (29.4%) 3-pt. FG Pct. Def. - 10th (31.5%)
Rebounding - 5th (40.1) Rebounding - 1st (43.4)
Rebounding Margin - 3rd (+4.4) Rebounding Margin - 1st (+12.5)
Game Preview
Judging by the statistics, this should be a classic battle between good offense and good defense. California is the highest scoring team in the conference, both in terms of points and scoring margin, and is the second-best in field goal percentage. The high-flying offense will have to go up against the league’s best field goal percentage defense in Millersville, which has held opponents to a 34.8 percent field goal percentage this year. The Vulcans are coming off one of their lowest-scoring games of the season in which they scored just 60 points and were held to under 30 percent shooting. The Marauders have relied on their defense to win games this year, as only one individual is averaging more than 10 points per game, that being leading scorer Gladine St. Julien.
To its credit, Cal is not a very bad defensive team either, as the Vulcans are sixth in the league in field goal percentage defense and third in scoring defense. They are led by All-American candidate Brooque Williams, who leads the PSAC in scoring and averages a double-double.
IUP vs. West Chester
Friday, March 6 - 7:30 p.m.
Leading Scorers
IUP - Jahzinga Tracey (19.3 ppg); Lacey Claar (9.7 ppg); Kylie Miller (8.4 ppg); Staci Heberling (8.3 ppg)
West Chester - Dana Weems (13.5 ppg); Janelle Garber (11.7 ppg); Megan Stewart (10.7 ppg)
Leading Rebounders
IUP - Jahzinga Tracey (9.7 rpg); Staci Heberling (5.0 rpg)
West Chester - Dana Weems (7.9 rpg); Janelle Garber (6.5 rpg)
Other Top Performers
IUP - Lacey Claar (99 asst.); Kierstin Filla (98 asst.); Jahzinga Tracey (87 steals, 29 blks.)
West Chester - Megan Stewart (106 asst., 83 steals); Bridget Carlin (90 asst.)
2008-09 Meetings
Jan. 4 - (at West Chester) - IUP 66, West Chester 49
PSAC Rankings
IUP West Chester
Scoring Off. - 7th (66.9) Scoring Off. - 3rd (70.9)
Scoring Def. - 1st (50.9) Scoring Def. - 5th (60.5)
Free Throw Pct. - 9th (68.6%) Free Throw Pct. - 8th (69.6%)
FG Pct. Off. - 5th (42.6%) FG Pct. Off. - 4th (44.0%)
FG Pct. Def. - 3rd (35.5%) FG Pct. Def. - 5th (36.9%)
3-pt. FG Pct. - 9th (32.4%) 3-pt. FG Pct. - 12th (31.3%)
3-pt. FG Pct. Def. - 2nd (28.5) 3-pt. FG Pct. Def. - 6th (30.3%)
Rebounding - 10th (37.3%) Rebounding - 4th (40.2%)
Rebounding Margin - 8th (+1.3) Rebounding Margin - 5th (+2.7)
Game Preview
IUP’s strength is its defense, as it leads the PSAC in scoring defense and is third in field goal percentage defense. This type of play on the defensive end helped lead the Crimson Hawks to a victory over West Chester in a crossover contest back at the beginning of January. On offense, Jahzinga Tracey is IUP’s do-it-all player as she is the only player averaging over 10 points (19.3) and she nearly averages a double-double with 9.7 rebounds.
On average, West Chester outscores IUP by four points per game and the Golden Rams also have a solid defense, holding opponents to just 36.9 field goal percentage, just over a percentage point higher than IUP, but the Rams also give up nearly 10 more points per game. Their strength is in the frontcourt with leading scorers Dana Weems and Janelle Garber, who should their hands full trying to contain Tracey, although the opposite could be said as well.