The Shippensburg University women’s basketball team ended its season on a high note with a win over Shepherd University last Wednesday night. The team finished the 2023-24 season with a 6-22 record.
Following tipoff, the Raiders had a slow start with several missed opportunities. Shepherd scored the first two points off a jump shot, and it took the lead for the first several minutes.
The momentum shifted for Shippensburg after a timeout midway through the first quarter. The points quickly started to fall, and the Raiders gained a nine-point lead. The Rams did fight back in the second quarter, but two 3-pointers from freshman Bella Chimenti kept the Raiders in front.
The Raiders came out hot in the second half with a hard take to the basket by junior Taja Colbert, which began a 17-5 run to take a 50-31 lead. SU continued to dominate for the rest of the game, scoring 30 points in the third and fourth quarters to win 93-51.
The matchup was the Raiders highest scoring win since the 2022-23 season against Edinboro on Jan. 7, 2023. They also had a season-high 22 assists and 15 steals, and a season-low 10 turnovers.
Graduate Treasure George had an outstanding last performance as a Raider. She was the leading scorer with a career high 35 points. Reflecting on her historic night, George said, “I’m feeling overwhelmed but grateful. It was a learning experience because I’ve had great seasons before, but I didn’t feel this one was one of them. It does feel great to end this way, though.”
George also achieved 1,000 career points against East Stroudsburg on Feb. 17 and was honored before Wednesday’s game.
Graduate Madi White played her final game Wednesday. White finished her collegiate career with a double-double, scoring eight points and collecting a career-high 10 rebounds.
Wednesday night was also historic for SUTV, the university’s student-run television station. In honor of Women’s History Month, an all-female crew covered the last women’s basketball broadcast of the season.
The assigned crew included Elizabeth Peters as the play-by-play commentator, Madi Shively as the color commentator, Claire Rothermel as the director and Alexis Elliot as the graphics/audio coordinator. On replay was Nicole Ocker, and Jenna Cornell, Emily Hall and Allyson Ritchey were on cameras. Jada Lee was the sideline reporter.
Being a part of an all-female crew was a rewarding experience to Shively. “It was such an exhilarating experience to be able to do this alongside so many women in our department that I look up to and to watch women’s basketball drive home a win,” she said. “That was nothing short of inspiring.”
The event proved to Shively that “women’s voices may be dampened by those who don’t believe in us, and this event was a perfect chance to prove those voices wrong.”
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