By the time Thursday night ended in Horizon League women’s basketball play, Green Bay, the preseason favorite, had firmly established itself as the team to beat, but the standings are tightly packed after the Phoenix as eight of the 10 teams in the league now have at least two conference victories with no team playing more than five league games so far.
In a matchup of the only two teams undefeated in conference play, Green Bay went to Wright State and smothered the Raiders, winning 68-50. Loyola, after dropping two close games at home last weekend, got its second win in conference play with a road win at Youngstown State. Detroit continued its strong play of late with a 23-point win over Milwaukee. Cleveland State rounded out the evening with an 83-80 win over UIC as the Vikings held off a late Flames comeback.
Green Bay 68, Wright State 50
A 28-12 run to end the first half proved to be the difference as Green Bay went on the road to knockoff Wright State 68-50 at WSU's Nutter Center.
The Raiders scored the opening six points of the game, only to see the Phoenix tie it at eight on an Adrian Ritchie three with 16:01 remaining in the first half. Kim Demmings gave Wright State a 12-11 edge on a jumper at the 14:12 mark, but that turned out to be the final lead of the night for WSU as Green Bay tallied the next seven points, including five more from Ritchie.
Molly Fox cut the deficit to 18-14 with a layup before the Phoenix extended its lead into double figures with 11 unanswered points and eventually took a 39-23 halftime lead.
Wright State shot 46 percent from the field in the opening 20 minutes compared to 40 percent for Green Bay, but the Phoenix attempted 13 more shots thanks in part to a 19-9 turnover margin, which also resulted in a 20-4 edge in points off of turnovers.
Green Bay led by as much as 22 in the second half while WSU would get no closer than 13.
The Raiders finished with a higher field goal percentage (.383-.377) and held a 41-37 rebounding edge, but Phoenix forced WSU into 31 turnovers while committing 18, resulting in a 33-9 differential in points off of turnovers.
Demmings led the Raiders with 18 points while Fox posted a double-double of 16 points and 11 rebounds. Shaunda Sandifer added seven points and 11 boards.
Julie Wojtapaced all scorers with 22 points for Green Bay as she posted a double-double by adding 17 points and also recorded seven steals. Ritchie had 19 points, 13 in the first half, and Sarah Eichler had 11.
Wright State hosts Milwaukee Saturday at 2:00 p.m. while Green Bay continues its road trip with a Saturday afternoon matchup at Detroit.
Loyola 82, Youngstown State 77
Simone Law racked up her fourth double-double of the season and Monica Albano hit some key shots in the second half as Loyola built an 18-point second half lead and held on for an 82-77 win over Youngstown State tonight at the Beeghly Center.
Youngstown State knocked down three early three-pointers to grab an early 9-4 lead but Loyola responded immediately. Law scored inside to kickstart an 11-2 run to give the Ramblers a 15-11 lead with just over eight minutes gone and Loyola was able to play from the lead, eventually extending to a 24-17 lead on a Abby Skube three-pointer. The lead was still at six at the 5:00 mark before Ayrealle Beavers capped a 7-0 run with a bucket to give Loyola its largest lead of the half (33-20) before the Ramblers settled for a 35-24 advantage at halftime.
Brandi Brownscored twice early in the second half to get the Penguins within 10 but five straight points from Law and an Albano trey bumped the lead to 18 (46-28) less than three minutes into the period. The home team slowly chipped away, getting as close as 10 once more but Albano swished a transition three-ball to restore the Ramblers' 15-point edge with 9:50 on the clock. The lead was still at 13 with 3:10 left before Youngstown State made a final push. Four consecutive three-pointers, the first two of which were answered by Rambler baskets, made it a five-point game with 29 seconds left. However, Albano knocked down a pair of clutch free throws and Beavers made another in the final seconds to seal the win.
The tandem of Law (21 points) and Albano (17) scored 33 of their 38 combined points in the second half, with Law adding 10 boards for her fourth double-double of the season. They were joined in double figures by Troy Hambric and Beavers, who finished with season-highs of 10 points and five rebounds in 23 minutes. Skube was also a factor, pitching in with eight points and 10 rebounds as LU enjoyed a 48-32 edge on the glass.
Brown scored 20 of her game-high 26 points in the second half to lead the Penguins.
Loyola wraps up its swing through Northeast Ohio with a Saturday matinee at Cleveland State while Youngstown State is also in action Saturday, hosting UIC.
Cleveland State 83, UIC 80
A season-high 29-points from Shalonda Winton and double-digit scoring efforts from Takima Keane, Cori Coleman and Honesty King led the Cleveland State University women's basketball team over UIC Thursday evening, as the Vikings earned an 83-80 victory.
Along with 29 points, Winton tallied a game-high 12 rebounds, marking her fifth double-double of the season. King was the second leading scorer for the Vikings Thursday evening, posting 18 points along with four assists. Coleman tallied 13 points and a career-high seven rebounds, while Keane added 12 points and eight assists.
During the opening half, UIC got out to an 18-7 lead just 5:31 into the contest before Winton and Imani Gordon posted back-to-back buckets at the 12:29 mark to bring the Vikings within six points (18-12). Over the next six minutes the Flames extended their lead once again to nine points (28-19) before the Viking offense went on a 13-2 run, taking a two-point lead (32-30) with 2:02 left to play before halftime. Both teams scored four more points in the next two minutes, as CSU ended the half with a two-point lead at 36-34.CSU opened the second half on a 14-5 run, limiting the Flames to just two field goals throughout the first 5:55 of action. Included in the 14 Viking points were five from Winton and four from Coleman.
UIC was able to close the Viking lead to single digits with a Jasmine Bailey three-pointer at the 10:29 mark, but back-to-back three's from Coleman and King two minutes later gave CSU a 10-point lead with 8:17 left to play.
UIC stayed close for the rest of the contest, eventually coming within two points (66-64) at the 3:08 mark of the second half. CSU responded with seven straight points to gain a nine-point lead at 73-64 with just 4:38 remaining.
Once again UIC kept the pressure on the Vikings, coming within four points four times throughout the final minute of action Kiersten Green and Keane knocked down three critical free-throws with seconds remaining in the contest, giving CSU a five-point lead before UIC's Kierra Robinson converted a layup at the buzzer for the 83-80 final score.
CSU shot 43-percent from the floor (23-53), including a .520 clip (13-25) during the first half. The Vikings were 28-for-35 from the line, marking the most free-throws made this season, with 10 coming from Winton and nine from King.
UIC’s Shamiea Green led all scorers with 31, tying for the most by a Horizon League player this season.
The Vikings will continue their brief two-game homestand this Saturday (Jan. 14) when CSU hosts Loyola in a Horizon League matchup. Saturday's contest is slated for a 2:00 p.m. tip. UIC heads to Youngstown State to play the Penguins on Saturday.
Detroit 71, Milwaukee 48
Sophomore Senee Shearer poured in her fourth 20-point game of the season and the Titans never trailed in the game as UDM downed Milwaukee, 71-48, on Thursday night on Dick Vitale Court at Calihan Hall.
Shearer had 20 points to lead all scorers along with grabbing six rebounds and handing out three assists as Detroit moved to 8-9 on the year and 4-1 in the Horizon League. The 4-1 record sets up an early battle for first place with 4-0 and nationally-ranked Green Bay coming to town on Saturday.
Junior Yar Shayok recorded her second-straight double-double with 10 points and a game-high 12 rebounds, while freshman Shareta Brown had 12 points and three boards in a limited 18 minutes due to foul trouble.
The game was tied at two-apiece when the Titans went on a 9-1 run to give them their first big lead. Brown and Shearer did all of the damage as Brown had six and Shearer five at that point for an 11-3 lead.
Detroit never let its lead dip under six points and increased its advantage to as many as 18, 29-11, in the first half, thanks to a 14-4 run. Shayok had eight of her points during that stretch, while Shearer and freshman Audrey Matteson connected from long range. The Titans would end the half up 30-17.
The defense stymied Milwaukee (4-10, 0-4 HL) for the most part holding the Panthers to just 8-of-26 (30.8%) shooting with seven turnovers.
UDM had a 15-point lead, 37-22, in the second half with 15 minutes left when the Panthers had one final charge in them cutting the Titan lead to eight, 38-30, with 14:10 left.
That was when the red, white and blue collected themselves and put the game away with an 18-1 run over the next five minutes to take their biggest lead of the game, 56-31. The defense swarmed the Panthers' offensive attack as UWM was just 1-of-8 from the field in that period, while the Titans hit five of their eight shots along with 5-of-7 from the free throw line.
From there, Detroit coasted the rest of the way to the 23-point victory and its sixth win in the last seven games and eighth in its last 11.
Detroit finished the game shooting 54.2% from the field and 65.2% in the second half. The Titans were also 7-of-14 from three-point range and owned the boards to the tune of a 42-30 advantage.
Senior Jalesa Jones ended the contest with a season-high nine assists, just one off her career high, while netting eight points. Senior Lauren Allen tallied eight points and five rebounds, while sophomore Megan Hatter had four points and a career-best seven boards.
Detroit will now get ready for Green Bay on Saturday with tip-off slated for 2 p.m. Milwaukee heads south to Dayton on Saturday to take on Wright State.
Tags: Cleveland State - Women's Basketball · Detroit Mercy - Women's Basketball · Green Bay - Women's Basketball · Loyola - Women's Basketball
