Bloomsburg (12-3, 3-2 PSAC East) at West Chester (11-5, 6-0 PSAC East)
Saturday, January 18, 2014
West Chester, PA - 1:00 p.m.

WEST CHESTER, Pa. – The Bloomsburg women's basketball team makes the trip to West Chester Saturday to take on the first-place Golden Rams (11-5, 6-0) while looking to keep a five-game winning streak alive.

The Huskies (12-3, 3-2) have used second half rallies in each of the past two games to secure victories at Nelson Field House. West Chester, meanwhile, used a last-second basket to defeat Shippensburg on Wednesday and looks to extend its winning streak to three.
 
SCOUTING WEST CHESTER
The Golden Rams enter Saturday's play as the PSAC East leaders with a perfect 6-0 record in conference play and 11-5 mark overall. West Chester has scored divisional wins over Cheyney (93-44), Mansfield (84-75), Millersville (91-83) and Lock Haven (91-65) as well as nail-biters over Kutztown (83-81) and Shippensburg (87-86). This past Wednesday, the Golden Rams remained unbeaten in the PSAC East with a last-second win at Shippensburg. Sophomore Dallas Ely scored the game-winner on a layup with 1.6 seconds remaining to break the hearts of the Raiders and help WCU score a big road victory.
 
West Chester features a high octane offense, scoring a PSAC-best 81.7 points per game and is no stranger to high-scoring games – WCU also allows 74.9 ppg to opponents. The Golden Rams figure to have little need for the shot clock on Saturday – they have attempted the most field goals in the conference this year at 1,119, well ahead of any other PSAC team – Gannon is second with 1,053 attempts. Those figures are partly because of WCU's success on the offensive glass – their 18.1 offensive rebounds per game are the most in the PSAC.
 
Three players average in double figures – Ely (19.4 ppg), Brittany Sicinski (15.4 ppg) and Kendall Benovy (13.3 ppg).
 
THE BLOOMSBURG-WEST CHESTER SERIES
Bloomsburg leads, 35-32
The Huskies and Golden Rams split the season series last year, each stealing games on the other's home court. After dropping a 65-59 final at Nelson Field House last January, the Huskies earned their revenge with a 64-54 victory at Hollinger Fieldhouse. Bloomsburg grabbed momentum with an early 15-2 run and took a 37-17 lead into halftime. The Golden Rams closed to 44-38, but Bloomsburg pulled away late thanks to 19 points from Dana Wieller (Bethlehem/Liberty) and 10 from Brianna Dudeck (Sugarloaf/Hazleton). Brittany Sicinski had a game-high 21 for WCU. The teams also split the 2011-12 series, each protecting home court, while the Huskies swept a pair of games from WCU in 2010-11 including a 67-48 win on the road.

HAPPY NEW YEAR
Junior Jocelyn Ford (Lansing, NY/Lansing) has been a standout for the Huskies since the team returned from the holiday break, scoring 20 or more points for the third straight game vs. ESU on Wednesday. In the five games since turning the calendar over to 2014, Ford has scored in double figures in each contest and is averaging 19.0 points, 5.0 rebounds and 4.0 assists during the span. 

IN THE RANKINGS
Bloomsburg picked up votes in this week's USA TODAY Sports Top 25, receiving eight votes in Tuesday's poll. The Huskies are 1-1 vs. Top 25 teams this season, defeating then-No. 20 IUP this past week and battling No. 2 Gannon to the final buzzer before dropping a 65-63 decision on Dec. 21.

TWEETABLES (Huskies facts in 140 characters or less)
-The Huskies shot under 40 percent from the floor for the first time this year on Wednesday vs. ESU (.396).
 
-Bloomsburg also had a season-low 11 turnovers in Wednesday's victory.
 
-Bloomsburg improved to 100-32 since the start of the 2009-10 season with Wednesday's win.
 
-Jocelyn Ford (Lansing, NY/Lansing) handed out eight assists in the first half Wednesday and finished the game with nine.
 
-Lauren Nealon (Ambler/Archbishop Wood) tied a career-best three 3-pointers Wednesday with career highs in steals (3) and minutes (20).
 
UP NEXT
The Huskies return home on Wednesday to host Mansfield at 5:30 p.m. Bloomsburg then hits the road to play at Kutztown on Jan. 25.