SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. – Ariel Jones scored 19 points Saturday to break the school record for the most points in a season by a freshman as the Shippensburg University women's basketball team remained in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) playoff race with a 72-63 victory over Mansfield from Heiges Field House on "Play With Hart" Day.
Shippensburg (7-19, 6-14 PSAC) moved a game ahead of Mansfield (7-19, 5-15) for the final PSAC Eastern Division playoff spot with two games remaining. Much is still to be determined over the final week of the season; tiebreaker scenarios are listed at the end of this article.
Saturday's game featured a back-and-forth battle in the first half, with Shippensburg clutching a slim 31-28 advantage at halftime. The Raiders used an 8-2 run through the middle of the third quarter to gain a 10-point lead, 45-35, with 2:36 remaining in the frame. Mansfield could only cut its deficit down to six points in the fourth quarter, as SU shot 57 percent from the field in the second half to pull away.
Jones made 8-of-9 at the free-throw line en route to her 19 points on the day. She enhances her season totals at the free-throw line to 179 makes and 212 attempts – both totals that currently rank second in all of NCAA Division II. Jones also tied a career high with five steals.
Senior
Victoria Blackburn scored 12 points and collected four rebounds in the game. Blackburn has posted double figures in 14 games this season, and has contributed at least nine points in 15 of the last 18 games overall for the Raiders.
Freshman
Kasey Engle scored nine points – including five in the fourth quarter during a key stretch of play when Jones and Blackburn were sidelined with four fouls. Senior
Kristin McGeough and freshman
Kryshell Gordy each totaled eight rebounds on the day, helping the Raiders to a +6 rebound advantage.
Bench scoring proved key for Shippensburg on Saturday, as freshmen
Lili Benzel and
Jazzie Orth combined for 22 points.
Benzel matched her career high with 14 points – the third time this season she has reached that total – on a 6-of-10 performance from the field. She hit a pair of three-pointers, recorded a career-high three assists, and matched a career high with two steals.
Orth set a new career high with eight points (3-of-5 shooting and a pair of free throws) in just eight minutes. She also had three rebounds and a steal in her productive time on the floor. Redshirt-sophomore
Gabriela Blackburn added a rebound, assist and a steal off the bench.
With her 19 points, Jones ran her season point total to 562 – climbing above the 548 points scored by Lauren Beckley in her freshman campaign (2006-07). Beckley, the PSAC's all-time leading scorer (2,407 points), was among a large contingent of distinguished women's basketball alumni in attendance at the game, as SU's annual Alumni Game was held in the morning.
Shippensburg heads to West Chester on Wednesday for a 5:30 p.m. tip with the Golden Rams. It is the final game of the regular season for West Chester, whose "PSAC bye game" occurs next Saturday on the final day of the regular season.
Playoff Scenarios: In the event of a tie between Shippensburg and Mansfield at the end of the season, the tiebreaker will be determined by each team's matchups against the Eastern Division's top seeds, working down from the top…the MU-SU tiebreaker currently belongs to the Mountaineers by virtue of a win this season over Millersville (current No. 3 seed)…SU could gain that tiebreaker with a win over No. 1 seed West Chester on Wednesday…in fact, a win Wednesday at West Chester would clinch a playoff spot for the Raiders, as it would give SU a one-game lead on Mansfield with one game remaining (and the tiebreaker)…Mansfield hosts Bloomsburg on Wednesday and travels to Cheyney next Saturday.
