#HLWBB Semifinals -- Friday, March 13th
No. 2 Wright State 99, No. 3 Cleveland State 87
Wright State, the defending Horizon League Tournament Champion, put its foot on the gas pedal right out of the gate and held on to defeat Cleveland State 99-87 in the first semifinal matchup at the Kress Center in Green Bay, Wis. The Raiders look to head back to the NCAA Tournament for the second-straight year after its first appearance in program history in 2014.
Horizon League Player of the Year, Tay’ler Mingo fueled the Wright State offense with a game-high 27 points in the contest while dishing out 10 assists to notch a double-double outing for the senior. Symone Denham continued to post strong performances for the Raiders as she recorded a new career-high of 19 points.
The Vikings’ Kiersten Green posted a team-high of 21 points while Alexis Eckles notched a double-double of 17 points and a game-high 19 rebounds.
The Raiders went up 48-29 at halftime after shooting 48.6 percent (18-of-37) from the floor while Youngstown State shot for just 25 percent (8-for-32) in the first 20 minutes.
The 19-point deficit would grow to up to 23-points at the 14:58 mark of the second half before the Vikings slowly chipped away to get within nine points with 1:15 remaining in the game.
The Vikings outshot the Raiders in the second half going 13-of-29 (44.8%) from the field in comparison to Wright State’s 9-of-26 (34.6%) performance.
Wright State led for just under 39 minutes of the contest with only one lead change throughout the two halves.
No. 1 Green Bay 63, No. 4 Youngstown State 54
Green Bay led by as many as 18 in the contest as the squad withstood a late surge from Youngstown State to claim the victory, 63-54. The Phoenix return to the Championship for the fifth-straight season and are set for a rematch of the 2014 Championship against Wright State.
Kaili Lukan scored the first eight points for Green Bay en route to a career-high 27-point performance in addition to tallying eight rebounds. Two other Phoenix hit double-digits as Mehryn Kraker notched 11 points and Sam Terry collected 10.
First-Team All-League selection Heidi Schlegel led the Peguins with a double-double of 19 points and 10 rebounds. Latisha Walker grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds for Youngstown State while Indiya Benjamin added 16 points.
The Phoenix led for the entire contest with the point-margin reaching 18 with 2:33 remaining in the first half and entered the final 20 minutes with a 38-22 lead. Green Bay outshot Youngstown State in the first half from the floor hitting 46.4 percent (13-of-28) of its field goals in comparison to the Penguins’ 34.8 percent (8-of-23).
Youngstown State surged ahead in the second half to outscore Green Bay, 32-25 and brought the game within three points with 3:25 left in the game. Key free throws and a clutch lay-up by senior Megan Lukan down the stretch clinched the win and proved to be enough to withstand the visiting Penguins. Green Bay went an impressive 18-of-20 (90.0%) from the charity stripe for the ballgame with 12 of those points coming in the final 20 minutes.
Green Bay shot only 28.0 percent (7-of-25) from the floor in the second half while Youngstown State went 11-of-32 (34.4%).
The Phoenix will face Wright State on Sunday, March 15 in the Championship game set to air on ESPNU at 3:05 p.m. ET at the Kress Center in Green Bay, Wis.
