Lady Raiders Hold Off Late Rally From West Virginia Wesleyan in 75-72 Road Victory
Dec. 15, 2007
BUCKHANNON, W.Va. - Led
by 21 points from senior guard Megan Fogle (Roaring Spring/Eastern
York),
highlighted by two free throws with 7.1 seconds remaining, the Shippensburg
University women's basketball team escaped West Virginia Wesleyan with
a 75-72 victory Saturday afternoon at Rockefeller Center.
The win was the sixth-straight for the Lady Raiders (7-1) who are off to
their best start since the 2003-04 season when the team also started 7-1
en route to a 19-11 final record and an appearance in the title game of the
PSAC Women's Basketball Championship.
The victory also came under the direction of assistant coach Jack Schenzel
in the absence of ninth-year head coach Kristy Trn who gave birth to her
second child, son Cole Anthony, on Wednesday. She is expected to rejoin the
team when it returns to West Virginia for the Red Roof Classic December 29-30.
Despite trailing by as many as 14 points in the second half, 60-46 with 9:14
remaining, the Lady Bobcats (4-2) used a 26-11 run to take their first lead
of the game, 72-71 with 1:22 left following a three-point play by Sarah Van
Horn.
Van Horn finished the game with a game-high 37 points, 24 of which came in
the second half, while adding a game-high 16 rebounds.
However, following a Shippensburg timeout, Fogle would find freshman forward
Kasey Gardner (Sharpsville/Sharpsville) for a short baseline jumper that
put the Lady Raiders back in front by one with 1:10 left.
Each team would turn the ball over on consecutive possessions before a three-point
attempt by West Virginia Wesleyan's Brandi Wynn was off the back of the rim
and rebounded by Fogle, who was fouled with 7.1 seconds remaining.
Fogle, who has made 79.0 percent of her free throw attempts in her career,
would hit both to give Shippensburg a three-point lead, 75-72, and more importantly,
force the Lady Bobcats to have to make a three-pointer to send the game into
overtime.
On its ensuing possession, West Virginia Wesleyan's three-point attempt by
Lucia Darling as time expired was off the mark, giving the Lady Raiders the
victory.
Fogle finished the game with 21 points, five rebounds and five assists while
holding Darling, the Lady Bobcats' second-leading scorer and top three-point
shooter, scoreless. Her 79.0 percent career free throw percentage is just
off the school record held by current assistant coach Jen Scaffidi who made
79.3 percent of her attempts from 2001-05.
Free throw shooting proved to be a big difference for Shippensburg Saturday,
especially in the second half where they were 16-of-18 despite surrendering
43 points and being outrebounded 28-16. The Lady Raiders also had to deal
with serious foul trouble as Fogle, Gardner, sophomore forward Lauren
Beckley (Fairfield/Fairfield) and sophomore guard Michelle
Metz (Pottstown/Pottsgrove) all had four fouls for the majority of the final 10 minutes.
Beckley picked up her fifth foul with 2:09 remaining after being called for
a questionable illegal screen. From that point, West Virginia Wesleyan outscored
Shippensburg 7-0, with all seven points coming from Van Horn, to take its
first lead.
Beckley finished with her 13th career double double, including sixth in eight
games this season, after totaling 23 points and 10 rebounds while junior
forward Elise Mercer (Bishopville, Md./Stephen Decator) added 12 points and
five rebounds. Sophomore guard Sheila Wasser (Tremont/Pine Grove) was a key
figure off the bench for the Lady Raiders, finishing with six points and
a career-high five rebounds.
Shippensburg returns to action on Tuesday when it travels to Bloomsburg for
the first of back-to-back PSAC crossovers. Game time from Nelson Fieldhouse
is at 5:30 p.m., with the game available on Shippensburg University student
radio station WSYC 88.7 FM as well as on the internet at raiders.ship.edu.
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