PSAC Women's Basketball Athletes of the Week - 5
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Women's Basketball: East Athlete of the Week |
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Sarah Strybuc
Shippensburg (Sr. / G)
Philadelphia, Pa. / Archbishop Ryan
Shippensburg's Sarah Strybuc averaged 22.7 points per game while playing all but six minutes in a 2-1 week for the Raiders that included a road win over UPJ and a home win over Seton Hill. She began the week with a career high 36 points at UPJ, shooting 11-of-20 from the field including 12-of-13 at the free-throw line. At IUP, Strybuc surpassed the 1,000-point plateau for her career with a three-pointer with five minutes to go. Against Seton Hill, Strybuc scored 20 points and dished out a season-high seven assists. Strybuc currently ranks third in the PSAC in scoring with 20.0 ppg. |
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Women's Basketball: East Freshman of the Week |
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Allison Howard
East Stroudsburg (Fr. / F)
Aurora, Ohio / Aurora
Allison Howard averaged 10.3 points and 8.8 rebounds while shooting 50% from the field and 75% at the charity stripe. She recorded her second career double-double against Virignia Union with 12 points and as many rebounds. Against Edinboro she registered 14 points with six rebounds. In a double overtime win over Slippery Rock, Howard notched nine points with six boards and three steals. She recorded a week-high 11 rebounds in a 54-47 win over Mercyhurst. |
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Women's Basketball: West Athlete of the Week |
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Jen Papich
Gannon (Sr. / F)
Pittsburgh, Pa. / Fox Chapel
Jen Papich of undefeated Gannon led the Lady Knights to a 65-63 road win over defending PSAC Champion Bloomsburg. With only three seconds remaining, Papich pulled inside with a quick layup off an in-bound pass to hit the game-winner, as the Lady Knights rallied for the win after trailing with under five minutes remaining. Papich carried the Lady Knights to victory scoring eight of their final 10 points. In the comeback win, Papich led Gannon with 18 points, reaching double figures for the eighth time this season. She added four rebounds and a steal, while tying a career game-high five assists. In the Lady Knights' 95-64 win over Lock Haven, Papich scored a season game-high 22 points along with eight rebounds, five assists, three blocks and two steals. Papich led Gannon to a 91-65 win over Mansfiled and a 74-43 win over Le Moyne this week, as she averaged four assists, 14.3 points, five rebounds, 2.25 steals, and two blocks per game. |
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Women's Basketball: West Freshman of the Week |
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Natalie Piaggesi
Mercyhurst (Fr. / F)
Bethel Park, Pa. / Seton LaSalle
Natalie Piaggesi of Mercyhurst had a strong week for the Lakers, averaging 15 points and eight rebounds in three outings. In a 78-65 win over Lock Haven, she put-up 15 points and five rebounds. In a game against Bloomsburg, Piaggesi recorded 20 points on 8-of-11 field goal shooting. At East Stroudsburg, she totaled 10 points and seven boards. |
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Standings | Statistical Leaders | Schedule/Results |
TEAM NOTES
Bloomsburg
Bloomsburg defeated Edinboro 84-71 and Mercyhurst 71-63 before falling to Gannon 65-63.
California
Cal U won all three games last week and five of its last six games after opening the year with a 0-4 mark. Junior transfer
Kaitlyn Fratz surpassed the 1,000-point plateau last week and averaged a team-high 13.3 points in three games. Fratz and fellow junior
Irinia Kijolj both scored 20-plus points in the victory over West Chester, making the first time two players scored at least 20 points in game since last November. Junior
Emma Mahady combined to score 39 points last week after being limited to a season-low two points on Dec. 7. Senior forward
Ashley Hines tied her career high with 15 rebounds and junior guard
Chelsea McKnight tied her career high with 17 points off the bench on Saturday at Millersville.
Cheyney
Cheyney went 0-3 this past week falling to Seton Hill, California and Slippery Rock. Cheyney will not be back in action until January 3rd and 4th when they host Edinboro and Mercyhurst to conclude their longest home stand of the season, three games. Cheyney made seven three pointers against Slippery Rock, the most in a single game this season.
Lachelle Miller’s 18 points against Slippery Rock was a season high.
Kia Whitley Duncan’s 13 points was also a season high.
Kyra Hines Allen has led the Lady Wolves in scoring in four out of the last five games.
Clarion
The Golden Eagles welcomed back junior forward
Hannah Heeter Dec. 14 at Wheeling Jesuit. Heeter, who had been playing volleyball for Clarion's NCAA Round of 32 team, made an immediate impact with three straight double-doubles followed by a 16-point, 8-rebound contest. She now has 33 double-doubles in her career, the fourth most in school history. In addition, she had a pair of 15-rebound games (16 vs. Wheeling & 15 vs. Mansfield) giving her 19 in her career extending her own school record. Fr. PG
Kelly Johnson continued her solid play with three more double-digit games. Johnson now has 7 double-digit contests in 9 games this year for Clarion. So.
Jasmine Boyd recorded career highs in back-to-back games to end the week first scoring 14 vs. Mansfield and then topping it with 16 vs. Lock Haven Saturday. She also set a career high for rebounds vs. Mansfield Wednesday with 9.
East Stroudsburg
ESU (6-5) finished calendar year with winning record for first time since 2008-09, going 2-2 since last report - L 64-55 at Virginia Union, W 70-68 (2OT) at Slippery Rock, L 66-56 at Edinboro, W 54-47 vs Mercyhurst. The Warriors have PSAC's #2 scoring defense (61.2 ppg), #2 field goal % defense (36.0) and #1 3-point % defense (24.1) to key 6-5 start. They held Mercyhurst under 25.0 percent shooting in each half on Saturday. ESU leads PSAC in blocks (5.3 bpg) led by Jr. F
Jessica Martin, who leads PSAC and ranks in top 10 in DII with 2.8 per game. Martin (12.9 ppg, 9.1 rpg) and Fr. F
Allison Howard (10.5 ppg, 7.3 rpg) form a strong inside tandem and both shoot better than 45% from the field (ESU is 37.5% as team). So. G
Helena Gemmell leads PSAC in steals (3.3 spg). Three Warriors set or tied career-highs in scoring in 2OT win at Slippery Rock. Martin averaged 14.3 points, 11.0 rebounds in last 4 games (21/11 at Virginia Union, 14/12 at SRU, 13/10 at Edinboro, 9/11 vs Mercyhurst). 3 straight double-doubles - first Warrior since Jackie Yandrisevits in 2008-09. Warriors host #2 Gannon, Clarion after break.
Edinboro
The Edinboro women’s basketball team saw its five-game winning streak snapped against West Chester with a 76-73 loss at WCU on Saturday. The loss came despite the fourth double-double of the season by
Aignee’ Freeland. The sophomore center finished with 24 points and 12 rebounds, along with a career-high three blocked shots. The Fighting Scots’ loss came in large part to a huge disparity at the free throw line. West Chester 17 of 30 free throws while Edinboro went to the line just six times and made three. In a rematch of last year’s PSAC semifinal contest, Bloomsburg defeated the Scots 84-71. Edinboro rebounded a day later with a 66-56 win over East Stroudsburg, winning for the 14th straight time against the Warriors. Edinboro forced 29 turnovers that resulted in 26 points.
Darche' Jackson matched her career high with 12 assists at West Chester. The Fighting Scots still have one game remaining in 2013, playing at Winston-Salem State on December 31.
IUP
The Crimson Hawks got back to action last week with three victories in PSAC crossover play to run their record to 9-1 on the season. IUP picked up a pair of blowout home wins over Millersville and Shippensburg on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively, outscoring them by a combined 41 points. The Crimson Hawks defeated the Marauders 70-50 and held high scoring Shippensburg 33 points below its season average in a 70-49 win. IUP then traveled to Kutztown on Saturday, pulling away with a 76-62 win. Jr. G
Leslie Stapleton scored a career-high 21 points against the Golden Bears and averaged a team-best 14.0 points and shot 10-20 from three-point range during the week. IUP is back in action on Jan. 3-4 at Mansfield and Lock Haven.
Gannon
The No. 2 Gannon Lady Knights remain second in the USA Today Sports Division II Top 25 Coaches’ Poll for the fifth consecutive week. Dating back to 2011-12 season, the Lady Knights have been nationally ranked in 33 consecutive polls. The Lady Knights have won 23 consecutive regular-season home games. The last regular-season home loss came on Jan. 11, 2012, against Edinboro, 72-62. Unbeaten to open the season after 11 games, the team is off to its best start since the 2009-10 season when the team finished 37-1. When holding the lead heading into halftime, the Lady Knights are 12-0. The Lady Knights hold an all-time record of 29-2 in PSAC-crossover play against East Division opponents since joining the conference in the 2008-09 season. In cross-divisional action, the Lady Knights are 15-1 at the Hammermill Center and 14-1 on the road. The Lady Knights’ reserves have outscored their opponents’ benches in 10 games. This season, the Lady Knights are 2-0 in games decided by less than five points.
Kutztown
The Golden Bears (5-5, 2-1 PSAC East) dropped two of their three crossover games last week, with their lone win coming in an 80-70 win at Clarion. Kutztown had a streak of six straight games with 10 or more steals snapped in its previous game against Indiana (PA).
Alyssa Bonenberger leads the team in scoring at 11.8 per clip. She also averages a team-leading eight rebounds per game.
Advia Campbell recorded her second straight double-double of the season against Clarion, following up her triple-double against West Chester. She averages 9.3 points and 7.2 rebounds per game with a team-leading 24 blocks and 31 steals. Kutztown hosts Seton Hill and California (PA) on Jan. 3-4 at Keystone Arena for two more crossover games.
Lock Haven
The Lady Eagles (1-9) went 0-3 last week and have lost nine straight after opening the season with a win over Wilmington (Del.) at home.
Marrysa Moyer has been a huge bright spot for Lock Haven. She’s averaging 17.9 points per game and 10.7 rebounds a game. Moyer’s ranked sixth in the PSAC in scoring and second in the league in rebounding.
Emily Daugherty, who sat out all three games last week is averaging 15.9 points per game and will look to return to the court in the New Year.
Mansfield
The Mountaineers dropped to 0-11 on the season after losses to No. 2 Gannon, Clarion and Pitt-Johnstown this week. Jena Matter recorded back-to-back double-doubles against Gannon and Clarion before scoring a team-high 18 points against UPJ. Freshman
Maria Kelleher connected on a career-best five 3-pointers against Gannon. Mansfield is back in action in 2014 when it hosts IUP on Jan. 3 and Seton Hill on Jan. 4.
Mercyhurst
Mercyhurst went 1-2 in its crossover games last week…it beat Lock Haven, 78-65, December 17.
Alayna White led with 22 points and 12 rebounds, while
Adrienne Kloecker posted her first career double-double with 18 points and 10 boards. Freshman
Natalie Piagessi paced the Lakers the next night against Bloomsburg, scoring 20 points on 8-11 shooting. In a loss at East Stroudsburg,
Jessica Bell had eight points and a career-high 13 rebounds. Mercyhurst stands at 2-8 heading into the 2014 portion of its schedule. It plays at West Chester on January 3 in PSAC crossover action.
Millersville
The Marauders (5-5) rounded out there play in the year 2013 by going 1-2 against the likes of IUP, Seton Hill and California. Tuesday, the Crimson Hawks shot nearly 63 percent (17-of-27) from the field including 6-of-10 from behind the arc in the first half and outscored Millersville 34-22 in the paint on route to a 70-50 win over the Marauders.
Carly Gallagher led the team in scoring with 12 points. The next night, Millersville outrebounded the Griffins to the tune of 44-28 including 30-19 on the defensive glass and outscored Seton Hill 38-26 in the paint. Millersville came out on top 71-54 after shooting 47.1 percent from the floor to just 36.4 percent from the Griffins. Alexis Martin led the way with her first career double-double on 21 points and 10 rebounds. Saturday, the Marauders fell to the Vulcans by a score of 63-53 and turned the ball over 24 times in the 10-point loss.
Yasmin Cooper scored a team-high 13 points to go with eight rebounds.
Pitt-Johnstown
Pitt-Johnstown won two of its three games this week to improve to 5-6.
Seton Hill
The Griffins went 1-2 on the week in PSAC crossover action. SHU defeated Cheyney 59-46 before falling 71-54 at home to Millersville. Seton Hill then dropped a 82-71 decision on the road at Shippensburg. The offense sputtered for the week only hitting on 39% of its field goals and scoring just over 61 points per game.
Paige Alviani led the Griffins by averaging over 15 points per game.
Tiara Stossel averaged just under 15 points per game and
Katie Gattuso averaged a double-double of 14.5 points and 10.5 rebounds. The Griffins will return to action on Jan 3-4 when they travel to Mansfield and Kutztown.
Shippensburg
Sarah Strybuc surpassed the 1,000-point plateau for her career as SHIP went 2-1 on the week, defeating UPJ and Seton Hill but losing at IUP. SU entered the week receiving votes in the national coaches' poll. SHIP is off to an 8-2 start for the first time since 2007-08, when it started out 8-1. SU currently boasts the league's best shooter
[Stephanie Knauer, 62.6% on 62-of-99 shooting] and best free-throw shooter [
Lauren Gold, 90.8% on 59-of-65 shooting].
Sarah Strybuc (3rd, 20.0 ppg) and Stephanie Knauer (5th, 18.0 ppg) rank among the Top 5 scorers in the league...SU leads the PSAC in free-throw percentage (75.7%) and has made 31 more free throws than any other team.
Slippery Rock
Slippery Rock fell in double overtime to East Stroudsburg 70-68 and lost to West Chester 84-71. The Rock defeated Cheyney 77-66.
West Chester
West Chester lost to California 85-79 before defeated Slippery Rock 84-71 and Edinboro 76-73.