The Wright State women’s basketball team trailed by double digits and almost came back to win, but they ended up on the short end of the stick in a 65-63 barn burner against the Evansville Purple Aces inside of Meeks Family FIeldhouse.
The green and gold (0-2) had the 16-9 lead with just over three minutes and 22 seconds left in the first quarter thanks to five straight points, consisting of both a two-point shot and a free throw Makiya Miller; and a pair of Rylee Sagester free throws. But the Purple Aces (1-1) ended the period scoring 10 unanswered points: two free throws each made by Julia Palomo and Camryn Runner, a pair of shots from Maggie Hartwig, and a layup from Anica Skrivan. As a result, Evansville was up 19-16 after one and never relinquished the lead.
In the second quarter, both squads kept trading baskets back and forth. But Evansville led by eight on two different occasions mainly thanks to Runner, who scored nine of her 17 points in the period. At halftime, head coach Karen Scherr and her Purple Aces were up 36-29.
The third quarter begun as a scoreless dry spell for both squads, but the last 6:04 belonged to Hartwig as she scored 12 of her game-high 24 points in the period – including a three-ball with under a minute left – to put Evansville up 55-44 after three.
The Purple Aces held a 12-point lead with 8:08 left in regulation and another 10-point advantage with 4:28 to go, but a huge three-pointer from Claire Henson and a scoop layup in the paint from Macie Taylor made it 64-59 with 2:28 remaining. Then, Henson’s three-point play made it a one-possession game at 64-62 with 1:48 on the clock. 38 seconds later, Makiya Miller drew a foul on Claudia Clement and ended up getting two shots at the line with a chance to tie it up, but she only made neither of the two. Henson would end up fouling Runner, who also made only one of two free throws to make it 65-63 with 10 seconds left. Henson then had a chance to send it into overtime, but she missed the potential game-tying layup down underneath the rim, allowing Palomo to get the rebound and end the game to give Evansville the win.
There were a total of 40 turnovers between both squads (17 for Wright State, 23 for Evansville).
Wright State shot poorly all across the board: 34.3 percent from the field (23/67), 27.8 percent on 3 pointers (5/18), and 52.2 from the foul line (12/23). However, they did with the battle in second chance points (13-10) and held Evansville without a field goal for the last 5:49 of the afternoon.
Evansville ended the day shooting 36.8 percent from the field (21/57), 25 percent on 3-pointers (3/12), and 76.9 percent from the foul line (20/26). They also outrebounded Wright State 49-32.
Up next: Hoffman and her Raider ladies will look for their first win of the season on Tuesday, November 12th in their home opener against the Indiana State Sycamores, which is scheduled for a 7pm ET/6pm CT tip-off.
Wright State stats
• Claire Henson: 14 points (4/17 FG, 4/10 FT), 7 rebounds, 2 steals
• Macie Taylor: 14 points (5/12 FG)
• Makiya Miller: 11 points (4/16 FG)
• Amaya Staton: 11 points, 8 rebounds
Evansville stats
• Maggie Hartwig: 24 points (9/23 FG, 3/6 3-PT FG), 14 rebounds, 7 turnovers; fouled out with 1:49 left in the 4th
• Camryn Runner: 17 points (5/13 FG, 7/10 FT), 6 rebounds, 2 blocks, 3 steals
• Kylee Norkus: 12 points (5/8 FG), 7 rebounds, 2 steals, 6 turnovers
