SHIPPENSBURG, Pa.- The Division II Conference Commissioners Association (D2CCA) released its Women's Basketball All-Atlantic Region squad on Thursday morning, and West Chester had a pair of student-athletes recognized. Leah Johnson (Columbus, N.J./Notre Dame) earned First Team honors, while Emily McAteer (Thornton, Pa./Garnet Valley) was named to the Second Team.

The PSAC had seven players earn All-Region Status, including Gannon's Sam Pirosko who repeated as Atlantic Region Player of the Year after also being recognized in this manner a year ago.

For Johnson, this is her second consecutive D2CCA All-Region certificate after earning Second Team honors a year ago. At the same time, McAteer appears on the team for the first time in her Golden Ram career. This is also the second postseason honor of the year for both Johnson and McAteer as the duo was named First Team All-PSAC East earlier this month, while Johnson also earned PSAC East Player of the Year honors, becoming the first Golden Ram to be recognized in this manner since 2008.

Johnson has rewritten the record books during her tenure on University Avenue, breaking the program's career scoring, assist, and triple-double records while also turning in an unforgettable 44-point effort in the 2023 NCAA Tournament vs California (Pa.) that led to her breaking the single-game scoring mark. The graduate student guard is also second in team history in rebounds by a guard and is continuing to close in on the career steal record currently held by Megan Stewart. In 2023-24, Johnson has appeared in all 30 games with 29 starts, averaging 14.9 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 5.8 assists per game. The veteran guard became the first Golden Ram in team history and the first DII player since 2021-22 to record a triple-double in back-to-back games vs Mansfield and Millersville earlier this season at home and ranks in a tie for first in Division II in triple-doubles with two on the year. The guard also leads the PSAC in both steals and assists, ranking sixth in Division II in assists, heading into Conference Championship weekend around Division II women's basketball. Johnson earned PSAC East Athlete of the Week honors for three straight weeks earlier this season as she turned in an incredible stretch of basketball, which saw her break the career assist record on January 13 vs. ESU, turn in back-to-back triple-doubles on January 27, and 29 vs. Mansfield and Millersville, and break the career scoring record on February 7 at Shepherd.

McAteer has also turned in a season for the ages as well, leading the team and ranking second in the PSAC in scoring, averaging 17.9 points per game to help engineer the top offensive unit in the PSAC East. This incredible scoring performance, which has seen the forward average north of 21.0 points per game in PSAC East play, leading the team in scoring in 12 of 16 games, helped her score not only her 1000^th collegiate point earlier this season but also score her 1000^th point as a Golden Ram during the team's senior day victory over Bloomsburg. McAteer has scored in double figures 23 times this season, including a team-best 14 20+-point performances, leading the team in 17 of 28 regular-season games and the PSAC Semifinals vs Gannon on Saturday afternoon. The veteran forward also averages 7.0 rebounds per game, which is second on the team, trailing only Kozicki, and has five double-doubles to her credit on the season. McAteer also ended the regular season with 18 blocked shots, which is also tied for first on the team alongside McTamney.  Despite her traditional role being that of an inside presence, McAteer also leads the team in made threes this season, connecting from distance 35 times in the regular season while also leading the team in field goal percentage at 53.0 % on the year.
West Chester is currently finishing its preparations for its second consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance as the squad readies to face off against second-seed Fairmont State on Friday night beginning at 5 p.m. Fans should view important fan information here.