SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. – Sophomore Ariel Jones broke the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) single-season record for made free throws on Wednesday night, but the Shippensburg University women's basketball team could not maintain a first-half lead in dropping a heartbreaking 69-68 decision to West Chester from Heiges Field House.
 
Shippensburg (12-15, 8-11 PSAC) falls into the seventh seed in the PSAC Eastern Division standings with one game remaining. The Raiders will need to win at Bloomsburg on Saturday and also have East Stroudsburg lose its game at Millersville in order to make the playoffs.
 
Jones scored 22 points – her 21st 20-point game of the season – while shooting 7-of-9 from the free-throw line. Her free throws with 33 seconds remaining in the first half put her past the previous PSAC single-season record set by CalU's Miki Glenn (223 in the 2014-15 season. Jones has made 226 free throws this season, an average of 8.4 per game.
 
She enters the regular-season finale with 668 points; putting her just two points shy of tying Tracy Spencer's single-season school record for points (670) set in the 1995-96 season.
 
SU held a 43-35 lead at halftime, but managed just 25 points in the second half. The game was tied with 1:35 remaining, but West Chester (15-13, 11-9) held the Raiders scoreless down the stretch with the exception of a Jones three-pointer as time expired that brought the final deficit to one point.
 
Freshman Lauren Pettis scored 18 points, one short of her career high, on 7-of-9 shooting. Pettis added nine rebounds. Freshman Lauren Mills posted double figures for the 11th time this season, scoring 10 points including 2-of-2 from three-point range, to go along with four assists.
 
Sophomore Kryshell Gordy scored three points, grabbed a game-high 14 rebounds, blocked three shots and equaled a career high with seven assists. Freshman Aunbrielle Green added five points and six rebounds. Fellow freshman Margarita Kilpatrick scored eight points, making a pair of three-pointers.
 
West Chester got a game-high 25 points from Destiny Jefferson, while Gabrielle Troisi had eight points, seven rebounds, nine assists and five steals. Katherine Fisher had 10 points, nine rebounds and five assists.
 
The Raiders finished with a 49-38 rebounding advantage but shot just 36 percent for the game – including a 27.7 percent rate in the second half.
 
UP NEXT: Saturday, 1 p.m. at Bloomsburg.