Balanced Scoring Plus Defense Add up to Upset Win for Devils

Caitlin Shaw led four players in double figures as the University of the Sciences women's basketball team upset nationally ranked Millersville University 68-62 Thursday night in Millersville, Pennsylvania.

The Devils improve to 5-2 with the win, their third against PSAC schools this season.  Millersville suffers their first loss and falls to 4-1.  The victory was also their first ever against the Marauders in six tries.

Shaw connected on seven of nine shots from the field and was a perfect 6-for-6 from the free throw line.  Fourteen of Shaw's points came in the second half.  Colleen Christian equaled her career high with 16 points (5-11 FG, 3-4 3FG, 3-4 FT) and Marissa Chesnavich had ten points and 11 rebounds.  Becca Ruggear came off the bench to score 12 points and grabbed nine boards.  Melissa Rotz led the Devils with three assists.  Christian also had three steals.

The Devils defense limited the Marauders leading scorer Aurielle Mosley to nine points. Mashira Newman led 'Ville with 18 points.  Sophia Waters added 11 points off the bench.  Mosley also had ten rebounds.  Newman added four assists and seven steals.

Millersville scored the game's first six points but the Devils followed with the next seven to take an early 7-6 lead, setting the tone for the rest of the game. Floowing a Marauder free throw to tie the game, the Devils tenacious switching zone defense took over, holding Millersville without a field goal for the next 5:45.  Meanwhile the offense went on a 13-1 run to take a 12-point lead 20-8 at the 7:26 mark.  Ruggear scored the final eight points of the run. A layup by Sarah Hickman two minutes later gave the Devils their largest lead, 14, 26-12 at the 5:15 mark.  The Marauders closed within seven at the break, 29-22, with a 10-3 run.

The second half saw the Devils maintained at least a two possession lead throughout most of the second half.  Millersville pulled within three , 44-41 on a free throw by Mashira Newman but the Devils countered with a 7-2 run, starting with a Christian 3-ball and finishing with four straight points from Shaw to boost the lead back to eight, 51-43 with 7:33 left.

Sciences' lead shuffled between four and eight points until an 'and-1 from Shaw boosted the Devils lead to nine 59-50.  A 6-2 spurt from Millersville cut the lead down to five which was as close as the Marauders would get until the final 30 seconds of play.  The Devils led by six, 64-58 when Millersville's Carrie Sheffey went to the line to shoot three free throws on a questionable foul call. Sheffey drained all three to make the score 64-61 with 21 ticks left on the clock.  Another free throw by Mashira Newman made the score 64-62 before Christian sank the second of two free throws to make the score 65-62 with 20 seconds left.  Rotz and Chesnavich added free throws in the final seconds to make the final score 68-62.

The Devils limited the Maraduers to just 31.4% shooting from the field (22-70) while shooting 44.4% (24-54) themselves.  The difference came from the free throw line as Sciences made 17 of 22 shots (77.3%) to Millersville's 14 of 26 (53.8%).   The Marauders held a huge 24-16 advantage on the offensive glass but the Devils won the overall battle of the boards 43-41.  The Devils did commit 23 turnovers (11 assists) against a pressuring Millersville defense, while forcing 17 turnovers (14 assists) by the hosts.

The women's basketball team returns to conference play on Saturday, December 11, 2010 when they travel to Delaware to take on Wilmington University.  Tipoff is set for 1:00 p.m.