Bob Heller’s Philly WBB Small College Report: The D-2 Edition

By Bob Heller (@Bob_Heller1)

 

 The Week in Review for Division 2 runs thru this past Tuesday.

More milestones, by players and by coaches and more playoff spots secured as we enter the home stretch of the Philadelphia area’s Division II women’s college basketball season

 

Hartzell Earns 100th Win as Sciences runs Streak to a Program best 17 Victories

 

A pair of milestones were set Tuesday night of this week as we kick off this week’s report with the hottest Division II team in the area, that being University of the Sciences.

 

On Tuesday, USciences Head Coach Jackie Hartzell won her 100th win as the Devils head coach with a 41-32 victory over Goldey-Beacom College.

  She becomes just the second women’s coach at USciences to earn 100 or more wins, joining Nate Ware who is the program’s all-time leader with 137 victories.

  Hartzell also accomplished the feat in just 143 games – faster than any basketball coach, men’s or women’s in the history of the school.

 

Back to the game, the win also was the team’s 17th straight, breaking the program record of 16 set back in the 2014-15 season.  

 The Devils are now 24-2 overall and 16-1 in the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) and are 1½ games ahead of Jefferson University in the race for the CACC South title.

 

Senior Sarah Abbonizio scored 22 of the Devils’ 41 points with Laura Trisch providing the defensive spark with 10 rebounds. 

 USciences shot just 26.5% from the floor.

   The Lightning were not much better making just 28.6%. Sciences got much of their advantage on the free throw line making 11-of-14 to just 5-of-6 for the Lightning.  

 

The Devils have two regular season games remaining both on the road, facing Nyack College on Saturday and Chestnut Hill College the following Saturday.

 Chestnut Hill handed the Devils their only conference loss earlier this season.

 

Speller Nets 1,000th Point for West Chester; Hopkins Records Triple-Double

 

West Chester University meanwhile has put together a 14-game winning streak, having not lost a game since USciences handed the Golden Rams an 82-67 defeat back on December 19.  

 The Golden Rams currently sit at 19-4 overall and 16-3 in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) action ahead of its home game against Lock Haven on Wednesday. 

WCU recently clinched a bye in the opening round of the PSAC Tournament as the top team in the PSAC Eastern Division. 

Their current winning streak is the second longest in program history and the Golden Rams' 14 victories in a row mark the most by a West Chester women's basketball team since the 1971-72 season.

 

The Golden Rams beat Cheyney in their senior day game last Saturday 98-63.  

Porscha Speller became the 20th Golden Rams player to reach 1,000 career points in the contest while Mia Hopkins recorded a triple double with 22 points, 13 rebounds and 12 assists.  Hopkins also added eight steals. 

 Hopkins is just the second Golden Rams player to ever record a triple-double.

 

Speller was the game’s leading scorer with 27 points.  Hopkins made 10 of 13 shots from the field en route to her 22 points while Destiny Jefferson added 14.

 

Briana Hedgepeth led Cheyney (5-18, 3-14 PSAC) with 13 points.  Yasmine Dorrielan and Drazana Vulic had ten points apiece.

 

 Rams Rebound after Loss to ‘Sciences

 

Jefferson University meanwhile rebounded from last Wednesday’s loss to USciences with a 68- 56 victory over Bloomfield College last Saturday, knocking the Bears out of first place in the CACC North Division.  

In the game Jefferson senior Rachel Day became the Rams all-time leader in three-point field goals, making three on the afternoon to push her career total to 231.

  Day’s first three point bucket of the day made her the all-time leader in the first quarter.

 

Alyanna Williams led the Rams with 22 points while Jessica Kaminski chipped in 13.  Beverly Kum added 12 points while Day finished the day with 11 points.

 

Jefferson is 22-3 overall and 14-2 in CACC games, holding down second place in the CACC South Division. 

The Rams are idle until this Saturday when they play at CACC North leader Caldwell.   Bloomfield fell to second place and will have to face another area school in their next game.

 

Lincoln Wins Two Straight

That opponent would be Lincoln University.  The Lions have won two straight and have a 15-7 overall record and sit in fourth place in the highly competitive CIAA North Division (Virginia Union, Virginia State and Chowan are all regionally ranked).

 

The Lions won a key divisional road victory last week at Bowie State, 55-46. In that game, Michelle Fitzgerald recorded a double-double with 13 points and a career high 17 rebounds.  Teira Pendleton added 11 points while Shahra Madison chipped in ten.

 

Lincoln took control of the game late in the first quarter with a 9-0 run after four ties and two lead changes.  The Lions pushed the lead to 11 by halftime, 30-19.

 

Bowie came back in the fourth quarter, closing within three before the Lions put the game away with three free throws over the final 24 seconds.

 

Fitzgerald recorded her second straight double-double on Saturday with a career high 25 points and 11 rebounds as the Lions defeated Elizabeth City State 82-70. 

Shecquan Bailey added 11 points and seven assists while Pendleton chipped in ten points.  Pendleton moved into fourth place on the Lion’s all-time scoring list with her ten-point effort, giving her 1,071 for her career.

 

Chestnut Hill and Holy Family Secure Playoff Spots

 

Back to the CACC where Chestnut Hill College and Holy Family University clinched the final two playoff spots in the CACC South.  

 

Chestnut Hill solidified their hold on third place in the CACC South with a 91-84 overtime win over Wilmington University Tuesday night. 

 The Griffins placed six players in double figures led by senior Vicky Tumasz’s 22 points.  Cassie Sebold came off the bench to score 17 points while Shannon Glenn added 14 points.

 

Rounding out the double figure scorers for the Griffins were Jaeda Wildgoose and Cailey Gibson with 13 points apiece and Mary Trossi with ten.

 

The Griffins led by as many as seven points in the fourth quarter only to see the Wildcats erase the lead and go up by three, 74-71 with 2:14 left.  

Wilmington however would not score the rest of regulation and the Griffins got three free throws, a single from Trossi and a pair from Wildgoose with ten seconds left to send the game into overtime.

Wilmington scored the first points of the overtime and the two teams exchanged points until a Wildgoose layup with 1:58 left put the Griffins back on top 82-80. 

 Four straight CHC free throws in the final minute put the Griffins on top 86-82 as they started to pull away, scoring five of the game’s final seven points to make the final score 91-84.

 

Chestnut Hill also went 1-1 last week with a win against Georgian Court University, defeating the Lions 73-67.   Wildgoose led the Griffins with 17 points while Sebold added 14.  Trossi chipped in 11 while Tomiaya Graham had ten points.

 

Caldwell handed the Griffins their only loss of the week, 80-68 on Saturday, allowing the Cougars to reclaim first place in the CACC North.  Wildgoose led the team with 22 points.  

 

Holy Family clinched the fourth and final playoff spot with a 77-59 win over Georgian court University Tuesday night. The win was their third straight.  

The Tigers are now 10-14 overall and 9-7 in conference games.  Fifth place Goldey-Beacom could possibly tie the Tigers with nine conference wins but the Tigers hold the tiebreaker having swept the season series against the Lightning.

 

The Tigers placed all five starters in double figures, led by Anjelai Hayes’ 19 points.  Casey Schweitzer and Elizabeth Radley chipped in 15 and 13 points respectively. 

Casey Thomas (12) and Alexis Hoefstaedter (11) rounded out the double figure scorers.

 

Georgian Court led by six after one quarter and seven at the half, 32-25.  The Tigers scored the first seven points of the third quarter to tie the game at 32-32 and closed out the quarter on a 10-6 flourish to lead 54-50 after three.

 

Holy Family dominated the fourth quarter, outscoring the Lions 23-9 to secure the win.

 

In the Tigers two games last week, they defeated Goldey-Beacom College 76-69 and Nyack College 75-55.  

 

Radley led the Tigers with 22 points in the Goldey-Beacom win while Hoefstaedter and Thomas contributed 17 and respectively.  Against Nyack, Schweitzer and Radley led the team with   21 and 14 points respectively.

 

The Tigers have three games remaining, playing at Concordia on 2/17, at home against Chestnut Hill on 2/21 and on the road at Jefferson on 2/24.