CHEYNEY – Mansfield's women's basketball team heads to Cheyney on Wednesday, January 30^th for a non-conference matchup with the Wolves at 5:30 p.m. In the final game of January, the Mounties hope to play a solid game and boost their confidence heading into the last nine games of the season.
 
The Mounties (1-15, 1-12 PSAC) average 53.5 points per game, which is 10 more than Cheyney this season. The Wolves also allow their opponents over 85 points per game. Turnovers have been a thorn in the heel of the Mounties; so has been the case for Cheyney (0-9) this season as well. The two teams each average over 20 per game.  
 
In the last two times out, Ellie Thompson and Mia Leonard have proven to be consistent forces for Mansfield.  The duo has combined for 30 points and 34 rebounds over the course of two games versus Bloomsburg and Shippensburg. 
 
Thompson scored four of the Mounties' first six points helping Mansfield to pull ahead of Bloomsburg at the beginning of the second quarter on Saturday. She led the team by grabbing her career-high of 10 rebounds against the Huskies. The freshman was just two points shy of a double-double. She is shooting 50% from the field in the past two games, and ranks in the Top-15 in the conference with a 45.1% rate on the season.  In her first season, Thompson is just 15 rebounds shy of the 100 rebound mark.
 
Leonard's defensive prowess kept Mansfield in the game on Saturday against Bloomsburg. The sophomore scored 12 points, but her career-high and PSAC-leading eight blocks were the highlight of the match. In addition, Leonard came away with a team-high four steals, while accumulating eight rebounds on Saturday afternoon. Against Shippensburg, the center totaled five blocks and brought down 10 rebounds.  
 
The Cheltenham grad currently stands fourth on the Mansfield University leaderboards for blocks in a season (42). The record (68) is held by Deb Gmys from the 1988-89 season. With her current average of 2.63 blocks per game, which leads the PSAC and ranks nationally in the Top-20, Leonard is on pace to tie the record. The next milestone for Leonard will be Rachel Rieder's mark of 48 blocks in the 2002-03 season, which is third on the list. The sophomore is nine blocks away from breaking into the All-Time Top-10 at Mansfield.  At tenth, Jessica Uhrich had 65 career blocks in her time at Mansfield from 2003-06.
 
The Mounties now have five players who have scored 100 points this season. Erin Gibbons leads the team, averaging 11.4 points per game. Paige Whitfield has also scored 100 points and ranks second on the team behind Gibbons in 3-point shooting. The two sophomore guards have similar numbers through the team's 16^th game of the season. Both players have 20 steals on the year, and average over 3.5 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game.
 
Cheyney opened their season with a 106-25 loss at Virginia Union. Since then, the team has compiled another eight straight losses heading into Wednesday's game versus Mansfield. The Wolves' two closest games this season came in 20 point losses to American International and Lincoln University. Senior Marlon Herring leads the team, averaging 15.9 points and 9.4 rebounds per game.
 
The final score will be posted to @MUMounties on Twitter as soon as possible with a postgame recap coming to GoMounties.com as soon as details become available.