| Rank | Team | Pre. | Change |
| 1 | Purdue Fort Wayne | 3 | +2 |
| 2 | Green Bay | 2 | – |
| 3 | Detroit Mercy | 5 | +2 |
| 4 | Cleveland State | 1 | -3 |
| 5 | Milwaukee | 6 | +1 |
| 6 | Northern Kentucky | 7 | +1 |
| 7 | Robert Morris | 10 | +3 |
| 8 | IU Indianapolis | 9 | +1 |
| 9 | Wright State | 4 | -5 |
| 10 | Youngstown State | 8 | -2 |
| 11 | Oakland | 11 | – |
No team in the Horizon League, and few mid-majors anywhere in the country, have presented as well as Purdue Fort Wayne so far this season. The Mastodons are 3-2 overall, but both defeats were highly-competitive affairs against power conference schools, including Purdue West Lafayette in the season opener, and 15th-ranked Kentucky on November 18th. That latter contest saw PFW lead for the vast majority of the 40 minutes before fading in the fourth quarter, behind star transfers Lauren Ross and Sydney Freeman, who went off for 21 and 18 points, respectively. Additionally, the Dons have absolutely annihilated the non-P5 schools they’ve encountered, most recently including a 94-49 drubbing of Eastern Michigan. It’s still early, but right now, this looks like a team every bit as good as Green Bay or Cleveland State.
Speaking of Green Bay, the Phoenix was perilously close to dropping to 0-3 for the first time in a quarter-century at former HL opponent UIC on November 13th, before a ridiculous comeback – UWGB trailed by ten with just over six minutes to play, then scored the game’s next 15 points – saved them. Things weren’t quite that dramatic four days later at North Dakota, though the Phoenix still had to overcome a double-digit hole late in the first half. Both rallies were fueled largely by Maddy Schreiber, who went 5-for-7 from three-point range against the Flames, and has scored 52 points over her last three games. The most recent of those efforts came on Thursday, a firm victory over DePaul showing that, hey, Green Bay is still Green Bay. Natalie McNeal scored 17 points against the Blue Demons and has been her usual, steady self again this season.
There were at least a few (perfectly valid) questions about Detroit Mercy entering the season, given the turnover on Kate Achter’s roster, but so far, the Titans have answered just about all of them very well. UDM was routed by Michigan State on Wednesday, their only defeat, but each of the Titans’ three wins came against decent mid-major teams. The team’s Big Three of Emaia O’Brien, Aaliyah McQueen and Myonna Hooper has been largely as advertised, as the trio combines for about 37 of UDM’s 65.5 points per game. McQueen, in particular, has been a revelation with 13.5 points, 7.0 rebounds and 2.0 steals per game, and seems to finally be realizing her promise in a way that never happened during her two seasons at Oakland. Freshman Kailey Starks has offered a nice spark off the bench and could be a postseason award contender.
A disproportionate amount of Cleveland State’s success in recent years owes to Chris Kielsmeier’s trademark zone defense, so when Kielsmeier says that his current squad is one of the worst-defending teams in the country, that’s a five-alarm fire. That said, only one result – an ugly loss at Akron on November 16th – has gone against expectations so far, so things could definitely be worse for the Vikings, even if the team hasn’t felt like a juggernaut most of the time. Reigning HL Player of the Year Colbi Maples was injured in CSU’s win over Bowling Green and remains out, though Mickayla Perdue has picked up plenty of the slack, including 25.3 points per game, a number that places her among the national scoring leaders. Jordana Reisma scored a career-high 24 points in a win over Division II’s Ohio Dominican on Saturday and has become arguably the league’s best post player.
Just as it has been for much of the last two years, everything in the middle of the conference has been incredibly difficult to parse. However, Milwaukee, despite a 2-5 record, has the look of a team that can be dangerous once the HL schedule starts. Three of those five losses have come to high majors, and the Panthers seem like they have all of the tools, provided that they can shore up the defense and rebounding that has typically been a program hallmark, but is off to a rough start. On the other end, Wright State transfer Kacee Baumhower has been the dynamic scorer that Kyle Rechlicz has occasionally lacked, averaging nearly 20 points per game and sitting among the nation’s top 100 players in several offensive categories. Anna Lutz has been the latest to carry the program’s legacy of elite frontcourt players, and a now-healthy Jorey Buwalda may be next up.
If you were waiting for Northern Kentucky to crater after an uncertain offseason that saw far more high-profile roster movement on the outbound tracks (like Carter McCray, who is doing well at Wisconsin so far), keep waiting. The Norse have been pretty good, building a 2-4 record that probably isn’t an accurate reflection of how well they’ve played, including a near-upset at Toledo on November 17th. NKU has had a couple breakout stars early in the season, including Halle Idowu, who had three double-digit scoring games across four seasons with the Rockets and at Northeastern, but has already matched that number with the Norse, including a career-best 29 points on 13-for-18 shooting against Marshall on November 10th, the team’s best win to this point. Canadian U18 national teamer Kamora Morgan, a freshman, fired home 21 points against Southern Indiana, while heavily-underrated Macey Blevins is off to a good start as well.
Right now, Robert Morris feels entirely different than it has over the last several years, and while it’s definitely too early to slide the Colonials into “darkhorse contender” status, it probably is time to identify the sharp upward trajectory of the program. A lot of that is the energy that Chandler McCabe has brought to Hoop Township, though don’t overlook Noa Givon, as the Iona transfer has immediately become one of the team’s leaders and offers the punch that the Colonials have often been missing (Givon averages 13.5 field goal attempts and 2.3 assists per game, so suffice it to say that she’s the centerpiece of the RMU offense at this point). RMU’s first game of the year, against Division II’s Point Park, snapped their 18-game skid that closed last season, and they’ve since added an impressive victory against the Akron team that eventually beat Cleveland State.
There’s at least a little bit to suggest that IU Indianapolis might be better than anyone thought as well, despite their 1-5 record. For one thing, they’ve been without Katie Davidson since early in their second game of the season, after the Jags’ superstar suffered an apparent wrist injury. Despite that setback, Kate Bruce’s newcomers have shown out, including big games from both Nevaeh Foster and Jada Patton. Neither, however, matched the absolute explosion of Shania Nichols-Vannett against Southern Illinois on November 16th. The sophomore transfer from something called the North Dakota State College of Science threw down 37 points (the third-most by any Horizon League player in a single game over the last decade and tied for fifth-best number in the nation this season), thanks to lines of 9-for-12 from the floor and 17-for-18 from the free throw line. This is clearly a talented group.
Wright State logged a quality victory over Ohio on Sunday night, one that Kari Hoffman hopes can help reverse what has been a disastrous start to the season on balance. The Raiders opened with a decent enough showing against Wisconsin, but then lost three of their next four contests against an extremely weak set of opponents. The lowlights of that stretch included a defeat at an Evansville team that went 4-28 last season (and had just lost to IU Indy by 25 points) on November 10th, followed up by a collapse at Bellarmine on Thursday that saw the Raiders blow a 21-point lead midway through the third quarter. WSU is very likely better than ninth among the HL’s 11 teams, and any upward movement will be driven heavily by Amaya Staton, as the transfer post from Merrimack has been fantastic so far, including a double-double against Ohio and domination on both ends of the floor. Human utility tool Claire Henson has seen an expanded role as well, which has paid off with more than 13 points per game.
Youngstown State’s scheduled opener against North Dakota was canceled by a power outage at the Beeghly Center, though it’s quite possible that their most recent game, at Bucknell on Saturday, had even less electricity. The Penguins scored exactly 14 points in the first 28 minutes of the afternoon (eventually picking it up a bit to finish with 36) and shot 9-for-60 (15 percent) from the floor. In most cases, a team that had won its four (played) games prior to Saturday could probably laugh it off as just one of those days, an anomaly. Even YSU’s victories are a bit concerning though, given that most were close and came against lower division programs, transitioning DI Mercyhurst, and terrible St. Bonaventure. One bright spot is that the Bucknell game was still winnable in the fourth quarter thanks to a highly-effective defense that unleashed a press frequently. Jewel Watkins has also been fantastic, leading the team with 15.0 points per game.
Oakland brought home a nice win from Central Michigan on Sunday, the Golden Grizzlies’ first victory this season against Division I competition. Beyond that milestone, it was the latest bit of evidence that Maddy Skorupski should be considered among the Horizon League’s best players. Skorupski went 9-for-17 from the floor on the way to a career-high 28 points, and the one-time Michigan State Spartan is averaging 19.0 points and 4.0 steals per game despite a pretty brutal early-season schedule that included her old MSU squad, as well as Michigan, which features former OU star Brooke Quarles-Daniels. Lianna Baxter has held down the frontcourt and Mercyhurst transfer Dani Grim is a capable point guard, but OU desperately needs some more production behind Skorupski.
Player of the Week
Lauren Ross (Purdue Fort Wayne)
To an extent, this is an award that spans the entirety of the season so far, given that Ross is a major force behind the Dons’ case for title contention at this point. But she’s earned it with her play over the last week as well, including 39 points on 14-for-24 shooting across two games, one of which involved a nationally-ranked Kentucky team – in fact, she went 5-for-7 from three-point range against Big Blue.
Also considered: Sydney Freeman (Purdue Fort Wayne), Maddy Schreiber (Green Bay), Noa Givon (Robert Morris), Macey Blevins (Northern Kentucky), Kacee Baumhower (Milwaukee), Maddy Skorupski (Oakland)
