Box Score


SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. – In a crucial PSAC East battle of two of the top teams in the division vying for position in the standings, the Shippensburg University women's basketball team fought back from an early deficit to take down visiting Millersville on Wednesday night, 70-58, from Heiges Field House.

With eight conference games left in the regular season, the Raiders (13-6, 9-5 PSAC) and Marauders (12-6, 9-5) now move into a three-way tie with Kutztown (winners over Mansfield on Wednesday night) for second place in the division standings. Bloomsburg sits in first with a 10-4 conference mark after a win over East Stroudsburg on Wednesday night.

Shippensburg – the runaway conference leader in free throws made and attempted this season – recorded a 32-of-43 effort (74.4 percent) from the free-throw line, the most attempts from the stripe the Raiders have had in a single game in over 10 years (43 against Lock Haven on Jan. 22, 2003). The 43 free throws are also the most attempted by a PSAC team in a single game since IUP also hit that mark against West Liberty on Dec. 13, 2009.

Senior Dana Wert – honored before the game for scoring 1,000 career points – shot 14-of-18 from the free-throw line and finished with a team-high 17 points and seven rebounds. Senior Shawna Wert scored 11 points on 3-of-4 shooting from three-point range as the Wert twins led SU with four assists each.

Senior Raediah Lyles added nine points (one short of tying her career high) while senior Caitlin Bamberger and junior Sarah Strybuc each scored eight points. Bamberger shot 3-of-5 from the field and added six rebounds all in just 14 minutes of action off the bench.

Millesville got off to an early 14-5 lead just over six minutes into the game before SU used a 14-2 run that included back-to-back baskets from Bamberger to grab a 19-16 lead with six minutes left in the half. SU held onto the momentum, and with the score tied at 25, three-pointers from Lyles and Shawna Wert surrounded a layup from freshman Alex Gildea during an 8-0 run just before halftime that gave SU its biggest lead of the half at 33-25.

Shippensburg refused to let the Marauders back in the game in the second half, never letting Millersville crawl closer than four points in the final 17 minutes of the game.

A three-pointer from Gildea (seven points and three rebounds off the bench) midway through the second half put SU up by 12 points at 53-41 before a 10-2 Millersville run – finished off by a three-pointer from Aurielle Mosley (game highs of 22 points and 13 rebounds) – cut the lead to 55-51 with 7:06 remaining.

Dana Wert answered right back with her only three-pointer of the game on the next possession to push the lead back up to seven, and after a Carly Gallagher layup at the 6:18 mark, the SU defense held Millersville to just two points until its final possession of the game – a span of nearly six minutes.

The Raiders hit the road on Saturday for a 1 p.m. matchup at Cheyney.