FAIRMONT, W.V.- Leah Johnson (Columbus, N.J./Notre Dame) turned in yet another outstanding performance, finishing with 24 points, eight rebounds, and eight assists. However, it was not enough to guide the seventh-seeded West Chester University women's basketball team (24-7) to an NCAA Tournament upset over No. 2 seed and host Fairmont State (27-5), as the Fighting Falcons escaped with a 72-68 victory.

"I'm very proud of this team," opened head coach Kiera Wooden. "Certainly not the ending we wanted, but I couldn't ask for more in terms of the effort, focus, and heart this group has shown. We came up short, and obviously, it wasn't the ending we wanted, but this group worked and fought so hard, and I will always be proud of them. They gave tonight everything they have and have absolutely nothing to hang their heads about."

Johnson, already the Golden Rams' career-leading scorer and career assist leader, ended her time wearing the Purple and Gold as the first of three West Chester players in double figures. Michelle Kozicki (Wilmington, Del./Padua) finished with 17 points on 5-of-8 shooting and 10 rebounds, while Briana Seltzer (Reading, Pa./Reading) poured in 11 of her own.

Alyssa DeAngelo led Fairmont State in scoring with 20 points and was one of four Falcons in double figures as Katy Darnell chipped in 15 on 7-of-13 shooting, while Leslie Huffman and Jalen Gibbs added 11 and 10 points each.

Fairmont State started the game on an 11-0 run and led by as many as 13 late in the second, but West Chester never wavered, continually battling back to keep the game close throughout the night. The Golden Rams continued comeback bids, which saw the Purple and Gold erase double-digit deficits throughout the night, helped West Chester nearly steal one on Friday night as the seventh-seeded Golden Rams found themselves down just one in the final seconds of regulation. With no choice but to foul to stop the clock, West Chester sent Fairmont State to the line late, and the hosts made the most of their chances, escaping with a 72-68 victory.

When asked about her group's continued resilience, erasing double-digit deficits throughout the evening, Wooden said, "Certainly tip your cap to Fairmont State as well. They are a tremendous team who had an amazing night here in front of their home crowd. I'm certainly proud of our effort, as we didn't panic and used our experience to handle the runs and fight our way back in throughout the night."

The Fairmont State defense was stifling through the first two-and-a-half minutes of play, holding the high-powered Golden Ram offense to just one shot while forcing four turnovers to jump out to an early 7-0 lead.

This early run prompted a quick timeout by head coach Kiera Wooden as she looked to settle her charges down early in the first.

Over the next two minutes, Fairmont State continued its run, stretching the advantage to 11-0 before Johnson scored the Golden Rams first points of the game with a perfect 2-for-2 trip to the free throw line. This trip to the stripe settled West Chester down a bit as the Golden Rams forced a quick turnover down the other end and got a pull-up jumper to fall from Johnson, trimming the deficit to 11-4 with five minutes to play in the first.

West Chester continued its run down the stretch of the first quarter, cutting the Fairmont State lead to 14-10 with under two minutes to play after a layup in close by Briana Seltzer (Reading, Pa./Reading) before a 2-for-2 trip to the line by Morgan Warley (West Chester, Pa./Villa Maria) brought the Golden Rams back within a pair after forcing a Falcon turnover down the other end. The Fairmont State lead remained at 16-14 heading into the second quarter after the Golden Rams closed the first on an impressive 14-5 run.

Fairmont State opened the second quarter on a 9-4 run to take a 25-18 lead over the upset-minded Golden Rams, forcing another timeout by Wooden with 6:02 to play in the first half. As the second quarter continued, the Falcon lead ballooned to 13 (33-20) after a 15-2 run midway through the second.

Kozicki snapped a scoreless drought for West Chester with a jumper in the paint that cut the deficit to 33-22. Seltzer's 2-for-2 effort at the line cut the lead back to single digits (33-24). Johnson and McTamney continued the late second-half surge, as Johnson forced a turnover and found a cutting McTamney to make the score 33-26. McTamney went to the line moments later and knocked down a pair as Fairmont State saw its lead cut to just five with 1:45 to play in the first half.

The two sides traded makes down the stretch of the first half as Fairmont State carried a slim 37-32 lead into the halftime break.

Johnson scored the last points of the first half, ending the first 20 minutes with eight points, while Seltzer and Kozicki added eight points each through the first 20 minutes.

West Chester shot sub 30.0 % from the field in both the first and second quarters, shooting just 29.4 % (5-of-17) in the first quarter and 4-of-16 (25.0 %) in the second. The Golden Rams shot just 27.3 % (9-of-33) from the field in the first half overall but were a perfect 14-of-14 at the line to stay in the game heading to the break.

For Fairmont State, Katy Darnell led the Fighting Falcons in scoring with a first-half-high 13 points on 6-of-7 shooting. Fairmont State shot 48.1 % (13-of-27) from the field in the first half, including a 3-of-10 (30.0 %) from beyond the arc, while also shooting 88.9 % (8-of-9) from the line.

West Chester continued its comeback bid early in the third quarter, cutting the deficit to three (39-36) before another Fairmont State run stretched the lead back to 44-36 early in the third. West Chester continued its comeback bid as the third quarter continued, trimming the deficit to 48-45 with five minutes to play in the third. As it had throughout the evening, Fairmont State had an answer again, countering with a 9-2 run to take a 57-47 lead with 1:51 to play in the third.

Fairmont State carried a 58-51 lead into the fourth quarter, but West Chester would not go away quietly. After a pull-up jumper by Johnson to open the scoring, West Chester scored the first four points of the final frame to cut the deficit to 58-55 with under eight minutes to play in regulation. West Chester continued its run as Seltzer tied the game at 58-58 with a huge three off an assist from Johnson with 6:58 to play, evening the score for the first time all night.

Bre Wilson countered with a quick three for Fairmont State, giving the hosts the lead back at 61-58. On the next Fairmont State possession, Johnson grabbed a rebound and drove the length of the floor quickly, hitting a driving layup to make the score 61-60 heading into the final media timeout of the evening.

Out of the media timeout, West Chester and Fairmont State traded makes as the Falcons retained a slim 66-64 lead with under two minutes to play in regulation. Fairmont State took a 68-64 lead at the free throw line and extended this lead to 69-64 after a 1-for-2 trip to the line.

West Chester cut into the lead with a big three by McAteer with 1:04 to play in regulation. After a missed three by Fairmont State on the ensuing possession, West Chester found itself in an excellent position to steal one as the Golden Rams had possession down just two with 37 seconds to play in regulation. Out of a timeout, Johnson drove baseline, looking to tie the score and potentially head to the line, but the Falcon defense stood tall and forced the shot off the mark. Kozicki secured a rebound and went to the line after drawing a foul of her own. The junior forward hit 1-of-2 at the line to make it a one-point game, but with no choice but to foul, Fairmont State extended its lead back to three at the free-throw line.

Trailing by three with under 30 seconds to play, West Chester charged down the floor and took a late three through contact, but it was off the mark as second-seed Fairmont State survived the upset-minded Golden Rams to earn a 72-68 victory in front of their home crowd.

West Chester shot 33.8 % (24-of-71) from the field on the night, hitting a pair of shots from three-point range and 15.4 % (2-of-13) from deep in the setback. West Chester also went 18-for-22 (81.8 %) from the line in the loss.

In the victory, Fairmont State shot 40.0 % (22-of-55) from the field, including 31.8 % (7-of-22) from three-point range. It also went 21-for-25 (84.0 %) at the free throw line.

Despite the setback, West Chester ended the game with a 48-38 lead in rebounding, including a 22-9 lead in offensive rebounding, which led to a 16-6 lead in second-chance points. West Chester also ended the game with a 24-22 lead in points in the paint and an 11-9 lead in points off the bench, led by Seltzer's WCU career-high matching 11.

Tonight's game was the final game in the outstanding career of the Golden Rams senior class, which includes Johnson, McAteer, Seltzer, Warley, Valerie McGriff (Lansdale, Pa./North Penn), Kaziah Ross (Binghamton, N.Y/Binghamton), Alana Boyer (Harrisburg, Pa./Susquenita), and Jayde Boyd (Pittsburgh, Pa./Oakland Catholic). When asked about her senior class, Wooden said, "I think I said in the locker room that when you leave, you are supposed to leave it better than you found, and this group absolutely did that no matter how long they played here. Each and every one of them is tremendously special and did some phenomenal things, including rewriting the record books to help us right a ship that was heading in the wrong direction. To go from a team that three years ago was struggling to break double-digit wins to making back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances, I can't say how proud I am of this group and how proud I am to have coached them."

Notes:

West Chester made its second consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance for the first time since the 2015 & 2016 seasons.

West Chester ends the season with a record of 24-7, tied for the second most wins in single-season history.

With her five points, Emily McAteer (Thornton, Pa./Garnet Valley) moved into second all-time in points in a single season, surpassing her total from a year ago, which was fifth-best in single-season history.

Johnson ended her WCU career with a program-record 1,777 career points along with 703 rebounds and 620 assists along with 284 steals. Also the career assist leader, Johnson ends her time in second in WCU history in rebounds by a guard and second in steals, while also posting an 83.8 % career free throw percentage, which is also second best in team history trailing only Camden Boehner.