Butler, UIC and Wright State all went on scoring runs late in their games to win going away in Thursday night action in Horizon League Women’s Basketball.
Butler trailed Youngstown State 49-48 midway through the second half before ending the game on a 25-15 run to win going away, 73-64. UIC outscored Detroit 12-5 in the final five minutes of the game to break a 54-54 tie and win 66-59. Wright State had the most dramatic comeback as the Raiders trailed 59-49 with five minutes remaining, but ended the game on a 15-3 run as freshman Kim Demmings banked in a runner with 4.2 second left to left Wright State to a 64-62 victory.
Cleveland State did not need a late run to defeat Valparaiso, but the Vikings were able to keep the host Crusaders at bay as CSU hung on for a 49-45 victory.
Butler 73, Youngstown State 64
SeniorDevin Brierly scored 19 points and freshmanHaley Howard added 14 to lead the Butler women's basketball team to a 73-64 win over Youngstown State Thursday night. BU shot 50 percent from the floor, its best shooting night of the year.
Brierly scored 14 of her 19 in the second half and had a strong overall game. She grabbed six rebounds and handed out four assists. She shot 7-for-14 and 4-for-7 from 3-point range.
The Bulldogs led a close, back-and-forth second half and would own a 48-43 lead at the 12-minute timeout in the second half. YSU scored the next six points to lead 49-48, forcing a Butler timeout.Butler controlled the rest of the game, ripping off a 12-2 run to lead 60-51 with 6:33 remaining. The run was capped with a trey by sophomore Jenna Cobb. Moments later, Brierly took a pass from Cobb and hit another big trey to make it 63-54. The Bulldogs would stretch the lead out to as many as 13 and then ice the game at the foul line.
Howard scored eight in the second half, attacking the basket and shooting pull-up jumpers in the lane. She finished 5-for-9 from the floor and made all four of her free throws.
Butler's offense was very balanced, with juniorBecca Bornhorstscoring 11 points and freshmanHannah Douglas adding 11 points and six rebounds. SophomoreSarah Hamm had all nine of her points in the first half.
Youngstown State's Brandi Brown finished with 23 points and 12 rebounds. Two other Penguin players each scored 11.
The Bulldogs finished 25-for-50 shooting, the first time shooting 50 percent since last season. Butler also had a 41-25 rebounding edge, including 16 offensive rebounds.
Butler will play Cleveland State Saturday, Jan. 7 at Hinkle Fieldhouse at 2 p.m. Youngstown State continues its Indiana roadtrip with a Saturday afternoon contest at Valparaiso.
Cleveland State 49, Valparaiso 45
Behind a career-high 16 points from freshman Cori Coleman and a matching 16-point effort from Shalonda Winton the Cleveland State women's basketball team defeated Valparaiso, 49-45 Thursday evening, earning their first Horizon League victory of the season.
Along with her career-high 16 points, Coleman also posted a career-best six rebounds, while Winton notched seven rebounds and two steals.
During the first half Valparaiso was able to get out to an early five-point lead at 12-7 before Cleveland State went on an 11-0 run over a four-minute span to gain the 18-12 advantage. Coleman, Winton and Tess Zufall each hit a three-pointer during CSU's run, while Haley Schmitt posted a layup at the 8:15 mark of the first half to give the Vikings the six-point lead.
The Vikings managed just one point, a Coleman free-throw, over the next four minutes, as the Crusaders closed the gap to one (19-18) before CSU was able to go into halftime with a four-point lead (24-20) after a Takima Keane three-pointer and a Coleman layup.
Throughout the second half Valpo was able to close the gap to two points or less multiple times, but they were never able to regain the lead as CSU held the advantage for the last 30 minutes of play. After opening the second half with a 5-2 run, the Crusaders came within one-point (26-25) before a Keane three-pointer and free throw extended CSU's lead once again at 29-25.
Over the next three minutes the Vikings were able to extend their lead to seven points (36-29), and hold at least a three point lead until the 8:23 mark when Valparaiso's Ashley Varner made it a two-point game (37-35) after converting a free-throw. At the 3:46 mark the Vikings were able to once again make it a six-point game (45-39), before Valparaiso posted five-straight points, making their final surge of the contest coming just short of taking over the lead at 45-43. Coleman and Winton combined for nine of CSU's final 10 points as the Vikings were able to seal the 49-45 victory.
Zufall hit a pair of three-pointers against the Crusaders, notching a career-high six points. Valparaiso had two players notch double-figures Thursday night, Tabitha Gerardot who posted 16 and Ashley Varner who tallied 11 and also had 10 rebounds.
CSU will close out its three-game road swing this Saturday as the Vikings travel to Indianapolis, Ind. for a 2:00 p.m. contest against the Butler Bulldogs. Valparaiso continues its homestand with a contest against Youngstown State.
UIC 66, Detroit 59
Senior Kiara Strickland tied career-highs with 17 points and five assists, propelling the UIC women’s basketball team to a 66-59 victory over Detroit on Thursday night inside the UIC Pavilion. The Flames snapped the Titans five-game winning streak.
SophomoreEmily Kobel also recorded a career-high with 14 points, including 4-of-5 shooting from behind the arc. Senior Shamiea Green and junior guard Taylor Foulks logged double-digit scoring outputs for the Flames as they netted 13 and 10 points, respectively.
Greenignited the Flames to begin the contest with an easy lay-in, which was followed by a six-point run by Detroit to place the score at 8-2 with 15:14 remaining in the half.
A layup by Strickland, followed by a Foulks trey placed UIC within three points (8-11) of the Titans.
With a little under nine minutes left in the half, the Flames went on their own run, knocking down seven-consecutive points. Redshirt junior Heidi Dahnke led off the run with back-to-back free throws. Kobelcompleted the spurt with a three-pointer and consecutive free throws to place the Flames within one point (19-20) of Detroit.
UIC trailed the Titans by two points, 27-29, at the half. Foulks led all scorers at the break with nine points, and paced the Flames in boards with four.
Strickland had a fast start in the second half for the Flames as she knocked down the first six points for the squad. Strickland’s effort placed UIC within one point (33-34) of the Titans with approximately 17 minutes remaining in the contest.
Despite Detroit finding a seven-point lead on two separate occasions, the Flames battled back and Bailey found her first bucket of the game with 12:37 on the clock, which she later knocked down a three, followed by a free throw to limit the Titans lead to three points at 46-49.
With 4:27 on the clock, Green sunk back-to-back free throws to find the first UIC lead (55-54) since her initial jumper to begin the contest. Green and Strickland carried the Flames through the remainder of the game as the duo combined for 16 of UIC’s 17 final points.
Detroit had four players in double figures led by Senee Shearer with 15.
The Flames return to action inside the UIC Pavilion on Saturday as they welcome Wright State at 4 p.m. Detroit stays in Chicago to battle Loyola on Saturday afternoon.
Wright State 64, Loyola 62
Down 14 at halftime and 15 early in the second half, the Wright State women's basketball team rallied for a 64-62 win at Loyola Thursday on a Kim Demmings game-winner for the second straight game.
The Ramblers led 12-6 early before WSU took its first lead of the game at 17-15 on a Courtney Boyd three with 11:52 remaining in the first half. A Breanna Stucke triple with 9:04 left put the Raiders back in front 22-20, only to see Loyola score the final 16 points of the period to go up 36-22 at the break.
Wright State shot just 21 percent from the field in the opening 20 minutes, including four of 19 from three-point range, while the Ramblers shot 39 percent overall and were six of 15 from behind the arc.
A Katie Kortekamp three with 16:19 to play gave Loyola its biggest lead of the night at 43-28 and the Ramblers still were up 55-44 on an Abby Skube layup at the 8:28 mark. Boyd, though, started WSU on its comeback with a three and Shaunda Sandifer followed with a layup to make it a six-point game with 6:39 left.
The Ramblers went back up 10 with a pair of baskets before the Raiders went on 13-0 run to go back in front, tying the game at 59 on two Sandifer free throws with 51 seconds left and going up 62-59 as Boyd connected on a three from the right wing at the 25.6-second mark.
Patrice Kinganswered for Loyola with a three of her own from the right wing with 9.7 seconds left, setting the stage for Demmings as she drove down the left side of the lane and banked in a runner at the 4.2-second mark, just five days after hitting the game-winner against Butler with 4.7 seconds remaining.
After shooting just 21 percent in the first half, Wright State shot 36 percent in the second half to end up at 29 percent overall while the Ramblers shot 31 percent the final 20 minutes to finish at 35 percent for the game.
The foul line, however, proved to be the difference as WSU made 10 of 11 at the stripe in the second half to go 12 of 15 for the contest compared to just two of three for the game for Loyola.
Sandifer had a monster game for the Raiders as she led the way with 15 points, all but two coming in the second half, and posted a double-double with a career-high 23 rebounds, 10 on the offensive end. Boyd added 12 points off the bench, nine after halftime, while Fox had 10 points and nine boards and Demmings 10 points and seven assists.
King paced all scorers with 25 for Loyola while Simone Law had 12.
Wright State, which is 3-0 in the Horizon League for the first time ever, wraps up the Windy City road trip on Saturday, January 7 at UIC. Loyola stays home to host Detroit.
Tags: Butler - Women's Basketball · Cleveland State - Women's Basketball · UIC - Women's Basketball · Wright State - Women's Basketball
