Shippensburg Women to host semis

By rscaife
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Updated: March 2, 2017

Courtesy of Shippensburg Athletics
Women’s Basketball Set to Host PSAC Semifinals After Defeating Bloomsburg, 60-44
Young becomes 23rd player in school history to reach 1,000 career points

SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. – Senior Morgan Griffith (Hollidaysburg, Pa./Hollidaysburg Area) put forth an impressive double-double of 20 points and a season-high 15 rebounds, and senior Colleen Young (Huntingdon Valley, Pa./Archbishop Wood) became the 23rd player in school history to reach 1,000 career points as the Shippensburg University women’s basketball team posted a 60-44 wire-to-wire victory over Bloomsburg in a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Eastern Division Quarterfinal from Heiges Field House.

Shippensburg (24-5) advances to host the PSAC Women’s Basketball Final Four this weekend at Heiges Field House. The Raiders will host West No. 2 seed IUP (21-6) at 3:30 p.m. Saturday in the second of two PSAC Semifinal matchups. California (27-2), the West No. 1 seed, will play East No. 2 seed East Stroudsburg (19-8) at 1 p.m. Saturday.

It is the first time SU will be hosting the PSAC Women’s Basketball Final Four since the 1999-00 season. It is also just the second time in school history that the SU’s women’s and men’s basketball teams will each be competing in the PSAC Semifinals in the same season.

With Young’s milestone Tuesday, Shippensburg becomes the first women’s basketball team in PSAC history to have five 1,000-point scorers on the floor at the same time (Stephanie Knauer – 1,635, Morgan Griffith – 1,428, Lauren Gold – 1,271, Logan Snyder – 1,158, Colleen Young – 1,004 = 6,496 career points).

The Raiders had an authoritative start to the contest, leading Bloomsburg (11-17) by a 19-2 score at the end of the first quarter after Griffith had a jumper rattle through the hoop as time expired. SU was 8-of-14 (57 percent) from the field in the opening 10 minutes while Bloomsburg was 1-of-15 (6.7 percent) with five turnovers.

With 2:57 remaining in the first half, Shippensburg held a 28-6 lead despite not having made a field goal in the second quarter. Bloomsburg closed the opening stanza with a rally, out-scoring the Raiders 9-2 before halftime to make the score 30-15 at the intermission. SU made just one field goal in the second quarter – a layup by junior Kristin McGeough (Carnegie, Pa./Chartiers Valley) just 32 seconds before halftime.

Young scored her 1,000th point on a three-pointer just 57 seconds into the third quarter, giving SU a 36-15 lead. Bloomsburg made it a game, however, countering with a 15-3 run to get within nine points, 39-30, with 4:42 left in the third quarter. The Huskies would get no closer though, with the Raiders re-gaining a double-digit lead that they maintained through to the final whistle.

Griffith had already achieved her seventh double-double of the season by halftime, accruing 11 points and 10 rebounds by the intermission. She finished 6-of-12 from the field and 7-of-13 from the free-throw line for her third 20-point game of the season.

Senior Logan Snyder (Lewistown, Pa./Mifflin County) was nothing short of fantastic defensively for the Raiders on Tuesday night. Snyder had a team-high five assists – the same amount as Bloomsburg had for the entire game – and also led all players with four steals. Her 108 assists and 40 steals this season both pace the team. She also had 11 points and five rebounds in the contest.

Young finished with 14 points, four rebounds and two assists. Graduate Stephanie Knauer (Hatfield, Pa./North Penn) managed nine points and eight rebounds despite playing just four minutes in the first half due to foul trouble. Senior Lauren Gold (Elkins Park, Pa./Abington Friends) had four points and three assists.

During SU’s 19-game winning streak (third longest in SU history, longest since 20-game streak in 1997-98), the Raiders have limited opponents to a 52.4 points-per-game average.

Additional information about the 2017 PSAC Women’s Basketball Final Four will be available on Thursday at shipraiders.com.