Wright State and Valparaiso Score Key Wins on Saturday

Women's Basketball Scoreboard (Feb. 22)
Valparaiso 84, Oakland 70
Wright State 102, Detroit 82

Valparaiso 84, Oakland 70
Sharon Karungi manufactured another huge night down low for Valpo as the junior recorded 22 points and 16 rebounds in a 84-70 win over Oakland Saturday night at the ARC.

Charae Richardson and Jessi Wiedemann each pitched in 17, while Jessica Carr registered a career-high 16 points to snap the Brown and Gold's six-game skid.

"Once again I'm really proud of this group and the way they were able to maintain their focus for 40 minutes. They felt prepared and they came out with confidence. We executed the game plan. Even when Oakland went on their big run and Watterworth took over, we kept to our game plan. Everybody just played their parts," head coach Tracey Dorow said.

Valpo rushed out to an 11-4 lead after Carr set Richardson up for a three-pointer. The Golden Grizzlies responded with a 9-2 run capped off by an Elena Popkey jumper to tie the game at 13-13 with just under twelve minutes in the first half.

The Brown and Gold answered with an 11-2 run a little later in the stanza, as they extended their lead to nine points twice, but were never able to claim a double-digit lead.

Valpo held a 24-8 advantage on points in the paint in the first twenty minutes as the Crusaders led 40-33 at the break. Wiedemann (12) and Richardson (10) were both in double figures by the first-half buzzer.

The Golden Grizzlies emerged from the half to put together another 9-2 run. A Bethany Watterworth free-throw at the 17:43 mark knotted the game at 42-42.

Watterworth was a force to be reckoned with for nearly the entire second half. The redshirt senior scored 17 of her game-high 26 in the final twenty minutes. Her layup with 14 minutes to play cut Valpo's lead to 51-50,

On the ensuing possession, Wiedemann fed Karungi in the paint before Wiedemann extended the Crusader lead to six with a triple from the right wing on the next trip down the court.

The Crusaders controlled the pace of the game the rest of the way as they led by as many as 19 points.

Valpo shot 33-of-60 (55.0%) from the floor. The 55% field-goal percentage was a season-high.

Richardson dished out six assists and collected six boards to accompany her 17 points.

Sophomore Lexi Miller added seven points, three assists, and three boards off the bench.

Karungi's 22 points were three off her career watermark set last Thursday at Cleveland State. She converted on 11 of her 15 field goal attempts en route to her fourth straight game in double figures.

In January's affair in Rochester, Oakland shot 14-of-30 from beyond the arc. Saturday, the Golden Grizzlies were held to 6-for-19 shooting from the perimeter.

Valpo's 12 turnovers tied a season-low mark set on November 24th at Tennessee Tech.

Wright State 102, Detroit 82
For the second time in three games, the Wright State women's basketball team reached the century mark Saturday, rallying from a four-point halftime deficit to defeat Detroit 102-82 at Calihan Hall.

The Raiders got off to a fast start, scoring 10 straight points to go up 13-4 four minutes into the game, but back came the Titans, who eventually tied it at 20 on a Senee Shearer jumper at the 11:17 mark.

The two teams were tied four more times until WSU went back in front 35-30 on a Sarah Hunter three from the left corner with 7:10 remaining in the half.  Detroit, though, closed out the period on a 17-9 run over the final five minutes to take a 51-47 advantage into halftime.

Wright State shot 46 percent from the field in the opening 20 minutes compared to 45 percent for the Titans, but UDM also hit 10 of 12 foul shots while the Raiders were five of eight.

The Detroit lead was still four at 55-51 early in the second half until WSU went on a 21-2 run over a six-minute span, eight of those coming from Kim Demmings and six by Breanna Stucke, to take control at 72-57 with 10:17 to play.

The Raiders gradually built on that margin from there, going up as much as 91-67 on Stucke's fourth three-pointer of the half at the 4:52 mark.

Wright State shot 53 percent from the floor in the second half, including a scorching seven of nine from behind the arc, and also made 10 of 12 free throws.  Detroit, meanwhile, shot 31 percent after halftime and was just one of nine from three.

WSU led 46-38 in points in the paint and also led in points off of turnovers (20-12) and in fast-break points (35-8).

Demmings paced all scorers with 30 points, 18 in the second half, as she reached the 30-point mark for the third consecutive game and seventh time overall on the season.  Ivory James had a near double-double of 15 points and nine rebounds while Tay'ler Mingo added 11 points and seven assists and Tayler Stanton, in her first game back after missing two games due to a knee injury, gathered in 11 rebounds.

The Raiders also had two players off the bench reach double figures as Stucke had a season-high 14 points, all in the second half, and collected eight rebounds while Sarah Hunter had 11.  Overall, the WSU bench outscored the Titan bench 33-11.

Detroit (4-21, 1-11 Horizon) had six players score in double figures as Shearer had 17, Megan Galloway a double-double of 16 points and 17 rebounds, Minisha Frederick-Childress 14, Tayelor McCalister 13 and Haleigh Ristovski 11 off the bench.