Shippensburg University’s women’s basketball team dropped a pair of conference matchups this past week, losing to West Chester 82-55 on Wednesday before falling to PSAC leader Lock Haven 59-48 on Saturday. The results moved Shippensburg to 3-16 overall, including 2-11 in PSAC play.

Wednesday’s battle saw the Raiders within striking distance throughout the first half but never able to get a clean run going to make it truly close. Shippensburg was only down six about midway through the second quarter but fell 13 behind at the half and were behind by 23 after three quarters. The Raiders never led in the contest.

Head coach Kristy Trn kept a positive outlook for her team around halftime, discussing the first half. “For a majority of the time I felt like we played very solid defense in the first half. They hit shots in our face. Not that we were playing bad defense, they’re that experienced and had very good players.”

Trn then mentioned the issues the Raiders had coming out of the locker room. “We were hoping to come out in the second half and do a better job taking away their points in the paint which we didn’t do, make sure we’re only giving them one opportunity offensively, and we didn’t do it,’ she said. “It tends to snowball with an inexperienced team.”

Freshman Bella Chimienti and graduate Treasure George tied for the Shippensburg lead in points with 13, with Chimienti going 6-8 from the free throw line. Junior Taja Colbert and junior Abbie Miller were both in double digits with 10 points, Miller also picking up seven rebounds to lead the team.

Entering Saturday’s matchup against 17-1 Lock Haven, Trn wanted to see a strong effort against the conference leader. “I just want us to come out and compete,” she said. “Lock Haven’s basically the same team as last year. We can compete if we can come out and execute both sides of the ball consistently for 40 minutes.”

The Raiders kept the matchup close for the entire first 20 minutes, going into the half tied at 30 before falling 59-48. Things fell apart in the third quarter for Shippensburg, giving up a 13-0 run to start the frame, being outscored 22-4 in the quarter overall. They held Lock Haven to seven points in the fourth quarter, but it was too little, too late.

George and Chimienti starred in this one for Shippensburg, with George putting up 17 points and Chimienti scoring 15, her third straight game in double-figures. Nobody else had more than five points for the Raiders.

The Raiders will face a pair of teams with 2-10 PSAC records. They travel to Shepherd on Monday for a 5:30 p.m. tipoff before hosting Bloomsburg on Saturday, with tip off scheduled for 1 p.m. at Heiges Field House.

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