Box Score Glenville, WV – The Charleston Golden Eagles would meet the West Chester Golden Rams in the NCAA Atlantic Regional Semifinal. This would be the first ever meeting of the two teams, and what a time for it in a "win or go home" NCAA Regional Semifinal in Glenville, WV. The Golden Rams defeated the Vulcans of California (PA) in the opening round of the tournament who had won the PSAC Tournament just a matter of days ago.
The Basics
Location: Waco Center
Score: UC 60, WCU 73
Records: UC (24-9, 16-6 MEC), WCU (24-8, 18-4 PSAC)
How it Happened
After forcing a turnover from the Golden Rams, Dakota Reeves would open up the game's scoring with a deep triple 40 seconds into the game for the quick 3-0 advantage. Trinity Palacio would maintain the lead with a signature jumper from the elbow for the 5-4 lead. The game would run uninterrupted until the 6:40 mark as Markyia McCormick would take a trip to the line and go a perfect 2-2 to hold a 7-6 advantage. After a short run for the Golden Rams, a Haley Moore triple would tie the score at 10-10. Moore would also add two blocks to the stat column just before the media timeout. West Chester would find another five points after the break, with Reeves cutting the lead to just two with yet another deep three-pointer. West Chester would hold onto their lead and head to the second with a 20-15 advantage.
The Golden Rams found their first four points of the second period at the line from Michelle Kozicki and Maya Carter to take a 24-15 lead. Struggles began to haunt the Golden Eagles on offense, as they would turn the ball over four times in less than two minutes of the quarter, forcing Tianni Kelly to call a timeout with 7:10 remaining in the half. Clarrissa Francis would score the first points of the quarter for Charleston with a hard-earned bucket underneath at the 5:03 mark, but West Chester had extended their lead with a 10-0 run to give them a 30-17 lead. Charleston would answer with a two-minute 9-2 run led by Trinity Palacio to cut the deficit to just eight points. With time winding down, the Golden Rams would find the final five points of the first half and take a 37-24 lead into the locker room.
The two teams would balance each other out with four points in the opening two minutes of the second half, but the Golden Rams would catch wind and continue to stretch their lead with what seemed like impossible acrobatic shots. Leah Johnson's jumper with 5:58 to go in the third period would give West Chester a 50-33 lead over the Golden Eagles heading into the media timeout. Palacio would sink a triple after the break to chip away at the lead, but it would be a long journey to even strength. The Golden Rams rolled their way into the fourth quarter with a 59-40 lead over the Golden Eagles.
Charleston would find a glimpse of light in the fourth quarter, forcing an early timeout from the Golden Rams after a 7-0 run that lasted just over two minutes led by Markyia McCormick with five points. The Golden Eagles were able to hold off the West Chester scoring long enough to cut the lead to 11 points with a trip to the line from Palacio. A spark came from the Golden Eagles after Reeves knocked home two triples from the corner, and the Golden Eagles were within single digits with 2:50 left to play. West Chester would reclaim the double digit lead off of free throws. Up to this point, the Golden Rams went 24-26 from the free throw line. With too little time left for a comeback, West Chester would hang on to their lead for the 73-60 victory over the Golden Eagles.
