At this point in time, the December 28 game is still on, so here goes.
West Chester University, a Division II program located in West Chester, PA., is our next scheduled opponent.
WCU plays in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC), a DII conference made up of 18 in-state institutions. WCU was projected to finish 7th in the preseason PSAC prognostications. Their record stands at 3-7 in what appears to be only DII competition, so GW represents the only Division I opponent they face this year.
They are led by Leah Johnson, a 5’5” sophomore guard, who averages 16.3 ppg, 7 rpg, and 5.1 apg. Alexa Abonizio, a 5’7” freshmen guard, averages 10 ppg. Between the two, they’ve launched almost 100 3-pointers, hitting on 32% of them. As a team, they score 64.5 ppg on 40% shooting (33% from distance), while allowing 70.9 ppg.
It will be interesting to see how Coach McCombs approaches this game. As a tune-up for the start of the A10, there are certainly things to work on, but a lot depends on who is available to play. This would be a good opportunity to further improve our offensive flow, which would really help Lok and Laureano, who seem to be rhythm offensive players. It may open the door for more minutes for our freshman and maybe for the debut of Leila Patel (if she’s out of Covid protocol) and Piper Macke, who has also yet to play this year.
There are still health questions. Covid continues to be the elephant in the room (besides Patel, Taiwo and Haydon in protocol for Lehigh game). Otherwise, the only question seems to be whether Ty Moore re-injured herself in the Lehigh contest. She limped off the court, but in what was a good sign, she did return to play later in the game.