CSU, GB, UWM and WSU are Victorious on Saturday

Women's Basketball Scoreboard (Feb. 1)
Cleveland State 84, Youngstown State 80
Green Bay 84, Detroit 72
Milwaukee 85, Valparaiso 80
Wright State 77, UIC 74

Cleveland State 84, Youngstown State 80
Behind a balanced offensive attack, the Cleveland State women's basketball team handed Youngstown State its first Horizon League loss of the season Saturday, defeating the Penguins, 84-80. With the win the Vikings improve to 10-11 overall and 5-3 in league play, while YSU falls to 10-10 overall and 6-1 in league action.

The Viking offense was powered by five players in double-figures, led by Cori Coleman who notched her second straight 20-point game with 22 points against the Penguins. Kiersten Green notched 19 points, Adesuwa Aideyman tallied 14, Haley Schmitt recorded 12, and Imani Gordon added 11. Along with her 11 points, Gordon also notched a team-high 11 rebounds – marking her seventh double-double of the year.

CSU struggled during the opening frame, shooting just 36-percent from the floor compared to YSU who shot 64-percent from the field to take a 48-40 lead into the halftime break.

During the opening minutes of the second half, CSU was able to outscore the Penguins 11-7, closing the gap to just three-points at the 55-52 mark with 16:07 left on the clock. YSU responded with an 8-3 run of their own though, extending their lead back to eight points (63-55) with 13:41 remaining.

Over the next 2:35 the Vikings went on a 9-0 run, gaining a one-point lead at the 64-63 mark – their first lead since the 15:13 mark of the first half. The lead wouldn't last long though, as the Penguins answered with an 8-1 run of their own, regaining a 71-65 lead with 8:24 left to play.

The Vikings then followed suit, posting a 9-2 run – including six points from Schmitt – to regain control of the contest with just over five minutes left to play (74-73). The two teams then traded points over the next 4:22, until Green was able to tie the contest for the fourth time after converting a pair of free throws, knotting the game at 80-80 with 40 seconds left to play.

On the following possession, Aideyman was able to grab her second steal of the game at half court, and then converted a layup with just 26 seconds remaining, putting the Vikings up, 82-80. The Penguins then had a chance to tie the game once again, but they were not able to convert a layup on their final possession, and were forced to foul CSU – putting Coleman at the line. Coleman sank both of her free throw attempts, giving CSU the four-point victory.

The Vikings had a strong rebounding performance Saturday afternoon, outrebounding the Penguins 46-39. CSU grabbed a season-high 23 offensive boards, which led to 22 second chance points for the Vikings.

CSU also tallied 15 assists, five steals, and two blocks. Eight of the assists came from Green, who tied her career-high in the category.

Coleman, who knocked down a trio of three-pointers against the Penguins, now ranks eighth all-time with 131 three-pointers on her career.

Green Bay 84, Detroit 72
Led by a 30 point performance from freshman Mehryn Kraker (West Allis, Wis.) the Green Bay women’s basketball team picked up its fourth consecutive Horizon League win as it ran past Detroit, 84-72, on Saturday afternoon at Calihan Hall.

Kraker finished with a career-high 30 points, nine rebounds and two steals to complete her strong play in the state of Michigan this weekend. She became the first Phoenix to have 30 points in a game since Julie Wojta did it against Wright State on Feb. 11, 2012 while also connecting on seven three’s for the first time since Adrian Ritchie did it a season ago against Valparaiso in the Horizon League Tournament.

“Detroit struggles to defend and that left a lot of our shooters open,” head coach Kevin Borseth said. “Mehryn had a great game and she could have done more if we would have found her a few more times in the first half. But Mehryn found the open spots, caused steals and that is what we needed today.”

Detroit netted the first points of the game before the Phoenix went on a 19-4 run to jump out to a 19-6 lead and force a Titans timeout with 13:11 remaining in the first half. Senior Breannah Ranger (Skokie, Ill.) had a fast break layup off a feed from freshman Tesha Buck (Red Wing, Minn.) before Kraker went on a tear. Continuing her strong play from Thursday night in Oakland, Kraker scored the next 11 points for the Phoenix putting up three shots from deep in addition to a fastbreak layup off a steal she caused to put the Phoenix lead at 13-6. Three different Green Bay players closed out the run with two points apiece from Buck  and sisters Kaili and Megan Lukan (Barrie, Ontario).

However, Detroit senior Senee Shearer got the Titans back in the game as they went on a 14-3 run over the next 4:17 to cut the Phoenix advantage to four points, 22-18. Shearer had nine of the 14 points going a perfect 3-for-3 from beyond the arc.

The Titans kept it close the remainder of the first half, not allowing the Phoenix to lead by more than seven points as Green Bay went into intermission with a 36-31 lead. Despite trailing, Detroit (40.0%) outshot Green Bay (30.6%) in the opening stanza, but the Phoenix held a 22-24 edge in rebounding.

A balanced attack by the Phoenix to open the second half put the game away, as the team went on a 12-2 run over 3:31 to assume a 15 point advantage, 48-33. Ranger started the second half like the first with a layup in the paint, and Kaili Lukan and Buck connected on back-to-back threes before Megan Lukan had consecutive points in the paint to put the lead back at double digits, where it remained the rest of the way as Green Bay cruised to the 84-72 win.

“We made some defensive adjustments at halftime and that really helped us control the Detroit shooters,” Borseth said.

Four Phoenix finished in double digit scoring, led by 30 from Kraker, 12 from Ranger, 11 by Kaili Lukan and 10 from sophomore Ellen Edison (Maple Grove, Minn.). Edison also dished out a career-best five assists while Megan Lukan tied a career high with 11 rebounds.

Green Bay finished the contest shooting 27-for-64 (42.2%) and had 21 assists on those baskets. The Phoenix also outrebounded Detroit 39-37 and had a 28-24 advantage in points in the paint.

“It was good to take both games in Michigan, but we are still taking this season one game at a time and not getting ahead of ourselves,” Borseth said.

Detroit was 26-for-61 (42.6%) from the field, receiving a team high 24 points from Tayelor McCalister. After posting 17 points in the first half, the Green Bay defense held Shearer to just three points in the second stanza.

Milwaukee 85, Valparaiso 80
Sophomore Avyanna Young put together an impressive double-double of 36 points and 10 rebounds to lead the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee women's basketball team to an 85-80 victory over Valparaiso University Saturday afternoon at the Klotsche Center.

"To Valpo's credit, they came out firing," Milwaukee head coach Kyle Rechlicz said. "They were hitting a lot of their shots and played extremely well. I felt like we locked into our defensive game plan but they just hit tough shots. On the opposite end, Avyanna was incredibly poised; she was balanced in the post and did an amazing job of handling it inside."

The Panthers (7-13, 3-4 Horizon League) led the Crusaders (3-17, 1-6 Horizon League) by as many as 11 points during the game, but needed an 8-for-10 showing from the free throw line in the final 52 seconds to put the victory away.

Young was, in a word, dominant. Her 36 points marked the most for any player in the Horizon League this season and ended up fourth all-time on the single-game UWM scoring list. Her 15 made field goals was the second-most in program history and she did it all by making an impressive 15-of-19 (78.9 percent) of her shots on the day. Her 10 boards marked her eighth double-double of the season and she also chipped in two assists and a steal.

"She just took her time," Rechlicz said. "She's so fast and sometimes when she plays fast, she plays a little out of control. Her first step is quicker than, I think, anybody in the league. She was great tonight. She has been putting in a lot of work outside of our practices on her own and you can tell. It's starting to really pay off. And to our guard's credit, they got her the ball. We passed up a number of wide open shots to make sure that we got her touches in the paint tonight and it helped us secure the victory."

Senior Angela Rodriguez added 17 points and six assists and went 8-for-8 from the free throw line to extend her streak to 39 in a row on the year. Junior Ashley Green chipped in nine points and six assists.

Five players ended the day in double-figures for Valparaiso, led by 15 points from Liz Horton.

Milwaukee led by as many as eight, but could not pull away in the first 10 minutes of the second half. Valpo continued to hit big three-pointers and tied the game at 56-56 on a pair of free throws at the 10:45 mark. In fact, the game was also tied at 58-58 and 60-60 before a big three-pointer from the corner by senior Emily Decorah at the 8:51 mark opened up a 12-2 run and gave Milwaukee control the rest of the way.

UWM shot 52 percent in the first half and settled for a 38-33 advantage at intermission. The first half was all Young, who came up with 20 points and seven rebounds of her total on the day in the first 20 minutes. She was hitting from everywhere, making 8-of-10 shots in the period, even adding a couple on the fast break. In fact, she became just the second Panther in the last eight years to score at least 20 points in one half of play.

It was a game of runs at the start, with the Panthers jumping out to an 11-0 lead before Valpo even dented the scoreboard at the 16:13 mark. But, the Crusaders didn't just roll over at that point, responding with a 12-2 run of their own to essentially even the contest at 13-12.

Young got more involved and was the key part of a 9-0 UWM spurt, scoring seven of it to give her team a 22-12 lead at the 12:15 mark. The team started red-hot and was hitting at over a 70 percent (10-for-14) clip at that point. Valpo then started warming up, getting as close as a basket on a couple of occasions before the halftime horn.

The Panthers shot a season-best 54.7 percent (29-of-53) from the floor on the day and finished 22-for-34 from the free throw line. Despite getting out-rebounded, 36-27, UWM turned a 15-8 advantage in turnovers into a 23-9 disparity in points off those miscues. The Panthers took care of the ball very well all day - the eight turnovers tied for second-fewest in program history.

Wright State 77, UIC 74
The women's basketball team erased a six-point second half deficit to lead by nine with 1:42 remaining, but had to hold off a late UIC charge before defeating the Flames 77-74 Saturday night at the UIC Pavilion.

The Flames controlled the early going and led 18-9 on a Ruvanna Campbell layup at the 9:09 mark of the first half.  WSU, though, chipped away and eventually went in front 29-27 as Kim Demmings connected on a three with 2:41 remaining.

The Wright State margin was one until the Raiders tallied the final four points of the period on three Tay'ler Mingo free throws and one by Demmings to take a 35-30 halftime lead.

UIC outshot WSU in the first half 39 to 35 percent, but the Raiders were four of 12 from three-point range and hit seven of 10 foul shots compared to one of nine three-point shooting and five of 11 foul shooting for the Flames.

Wright State extended its lead to 41-34 early in the second half following a Mingo layup, only to see UIC go on an 18-5 run over the next six minutes to go back ahead at 52-46.

The Raiders, though, quickly cut the deficit to two on back-to-back threes from KC Elkins and Demmings and another triple, this time by Ivory James, gave WSU a 55-54 edge with 8:59 to play.  Neither team then had more than a three-point lead until Mingo converted a three-point play at the three-minute mark to put Wright State up 68-63.

Six consecutive points gave the Raiders a 74-65 lead with 1:40 to play, but the Flames drew to within four on an Emily Kobel three and a Campbell layup.  Tayler Stanton answered for WSU with a putback at the 49.2-second mark before layups by Rachel Story and Terri Bender made it 76-74 with 9.1 seconds left.

Bender, who was fouled on the play, missed the foul shot and Mingo hit one of two at the stripe at the 5.2-second mark for the final margin.

UIC shot 62 percent in the second half and 50 percent overall compared to 45 percent shooting in the second half and 40 percent for the game by Wright Stat.  The Raiders, however, were seven of 19 from behind the arc to the Flames' three of 17 and made 18 of 24 foul shots, 11 of 14 in the second half, while UIC was just 11 of 23 for the game, six of 12 after halftime.

Demmings, with her 28 points, moves into second place on the Wright State all-time scoring list with 1665 points, eclipsing the 1653 scored by LaShawna Thomas from 2007-11.  The junior guard is now 390 points shy of tying all-time leading scorer Jodi Martin, who had 2055 points from 1979-83.

All five Raider starters scored in double figures as along with Demmings' 28, Mingo had 16 while James, Elkins and Stanton each had 11.  Stanton finished with a double-double as she collected 10 rebounds.

Campbell posted a double-double of 22 points and 15 boards to pace UIC (16-5, 5-3 Horizon) while Story had 18 points and six assists, Bender 12 points and seven assists and Katie Hannemann chipped in 10 points.