SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. - Strong defense and balanced scoring helped the Shippensburg University women's basketball move one step closer to making a return trip to the PSAC Women's Basketball Championship and highlighted a 62-44 victory over Slippery Rock Saturday afternoon at Heiges Field House.
The Lady Raiders (18-8, 6-5 PSAC West) maintained their half-a-game lead over Edinboro for the fourth and final playoff spot from the Western Division after the Fighting Scots were also winners on Saturday, 75-65 over Lock Haven.
Four players scored in double figures for Shippensburg, who limited The Rock (7-18, 1-0 PSAC West) to just 44 points, the fewest a Lady Raider opponent has totaled all season. Slippery Rock managed only 17 points in the first half and trailed by 15, 32-17.
In addition, the PSAC's 10th-ranked team in field goal percentage defense held Slippery Rock to 29.5 percent shooting from the field.
Shippensburg's stellar defensive performance came on the heels of its last four games where it had allowed its opponents an average of 80.0 points per game while losing three of four and surrendering 77 points or more in all three losses. The Lady Raiders are currently ranked eighth in the PSAC in scoring defense, allowing opponents an average of 66.7 points per game.
Sophomore forward Lauren Beckley led Shippensburg with 14 points and seven rebounds, both team highs, despite playing just 22 minutes because of foul trouble. Freshman forward Kasey Gardner and junior forward #Elise Mercer# also pulled down seven rebounds apiece while adding 12 and 11 points, respectively.
Senior guard Megan Fogle finished with 12 points for the Lady Raiders and now has totaled 1,393 points for her career heading into Wednesday's regular-season finale at home against Indiana (Pa.). She needs seven points to move past Vickie Mikesic '02 into 11th place on the school's all-time scoring list.
Meanwhile, with five more points, Beckley will become just the fourth player in team history to score 600 or more points in a single-season and the first since Melissa Swartz totaled 614 during the 1995-96 season. Beckley has scored 1,143 points in 54 career games for an average of 21.2 per game.
The Lady Raiders jumped out to a 12-0 lead with 12:41 to play in the first half before The Rock's Nikki Presto completed a three-point play for their first points of the game with 12:11 remaining. Shippensburg held Slippery Rock in single digits until a three-pointer by Julie Molloy with 4:40 left cut the Lady Raider lead to 24-10.
The Rock shot just 25.0 percent in the first half, committed 10 fouls and had eight turnovers which led to 10 Shippensburg points. The Lady Raiders were also 10-of-12 from the free throw line and held a 22-17 edge in rebounds.
Shippensburg led by as many as 22 in the second half where it got 11 of its 30 points from its bench, including five from Mercer and two each from sophomore guard #Natalie Monroig# junior center Chrissy Minnick and sophomore guard Shelley Wasser.
The Lady Raiders close out the regular-season on Wednesday when they host No. 9-ranked IUP at Heiges Field House beginning at 6:00 p.m., on Senior Night. The Crimson Hawks, who lost at home to California (Pa.) Saturday night 71-69, will be looking to avenge an 88-75 loss to Shippensburg back on January 30 when they were ranked at No. 5 in the USA Today/ESPN Division II Top 25 Coaches' Poll.
- Lady Raider Basketball -
