Road Teams Rule on Wednesday Night in Women's Basketball

Horizon League Women’s Basketball Scoreboard (Jan. 16)
Detroit 86, Wright State 76
Loyola 52, Valparaiso 44

Detroit 86, Wright State 76
Detroit hit a season-high 11 three-pointers as they defeated Wright State 86-76 at the Nutter Center on Wednesday night.

The Titans were buoyed by the return of junior guard Senee Shearer who made her first appearance of the 2012-13 season in the game. Shearer averaged 11.1 points per game last season and connected on 75 3-pointers  for UDM before tearing her ACL in the Horizon League Championship game against Green Bay.

Shearer made her presence known quickly in the game as she knocked down a three-pointer on the first possession of the game to give Detroit a quick 3-0 lead. The Titans first five field goals were all three-pointers as the Titans overcame an early 8-3 deficit to take a 15-10 lead. UDM led by as much as 13 points in the first half and took a 41-29 lead into the break. Detroit hit nine three-pointers overall in the first half, tying for the most three-pointers UDM had hit a game all season.

Demeisha Fambro opened the second half scoring by knocking down two three-pointers to extend Detroit’s lead to 18 and Wright State would never get closer than 10 the rest of the way.

Four Titans reached double figures led by sophomore Shareta Brown with 25 points. Brown was 9-of-16 from the field, including 2-of-3 from three-point range. The Horizon League Co-Newcomer of the Year last season also grabbed a season-high 16 rebounds to record her sixth double-double of the season. Rosanna Reynolds scored a career-high 20 points for the Titans, connecting on 8-of-10 of her field goal attempts. Fambro finished with 15 points and Yar Shayok also recorded a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds. Brown, Fambro and Reynolds all had five assists as the Titans had 23 assists on 31 field goals.

Kim Demmings led Wright State with 18 points. KC Elkins (14), Breanna Stucke (11) and Ivory James (10) also reached double figures for the Raiders.

Loyola 52, Valparaiso 44
Loyola committed just eight turnovers while forcing Valparaiso to commit 25 as the Ramblers defeated the Crusaders 52-44 to win their first Horizon League contest.

Valparaiso held a 10-3 lead 10 minutes into the game, but the Ramblers held Valparaiso to just one field goal over the final 10 minutes, ending the half on a 20-3 run to take a 23-13 lead into halftime.

 The Crusaders would battle back in the second half, getting within one point of Loyola on three different occasions, but the Ramblers never gave up the lead.

After a Tabitha Gerardot three-pointer cut Loyola’s lead to 38-37, the Ramblers scored on four consecutive possessions to take a 46-40 lead with 4:31 remaining. Valparaiso made one final run, cutting the lead to 46-44 with 2:17 left, but Loyola’s defense tightened up, forcing three turnovers and not allowing a field goal to end the game on a 6-0 run.

Taylor Johnson led the Ramblers with 19 points and 11 rebounds to record her second double-double of the season. Johnson, who came into the game second in the conference in steals, also had a game-high six steals. Abby Skube (13 points) and Emily Faught (12 points) both came off the bench to record double figures as the Loyola bench outscored Valparaiso’s 29-14.

Gerardot finished with her fourth double-double of the season, leading the Crusaders with 17 points and a game-high 14 rebounds. The Crusaders outrebounded Loyola by 13 and held the Ramblers to just 31.7 percent shooting from the field, but the 25 turnovers were too much for Valpo to overcome.