This week, we kick off the games that matter the most: conference play. It’s a big opportunity for our beloved Wright State Raiders basketball teams since they have something to prove, but both squads are gonna start Horizon League action on the road in the state of Michigan.
The women will visit Detroit Mercy at Calihan Hall on Wednesday, December 4, while the men will visit defending Horizon League Tournament Champion Oakland the very next night at the O’Rena on Thursday, December 5. Both games will start at 7:00PM ET and can be seen on ESPN Plus.
Women’s last time out: The women’s team (2-5) are coming off perhaps the toughest loss in the Kari Hoffman era with a one-point defeat at home at the hands of NCAA Division II opponent Findlay 65-64 on November 24. Macie Taylor dropped a career-high 24 points on 8-of-15 shooting to go along with three steals, while Amaya Staton finished a pair of rebounds shy of her 4th straight double-double (10 points, eight rebounds, two blocks).
Men’s last time out: First-year head coach Clint Sargent and his guys (5-4) ended the week with a 70-57 home win this past Saturday night against Air Force in the third-ever Stars, Stripes, Flight Classic. Brandon Noel led the way with 23 points on 10-of-15 shooting to go along with three steals, Alex Huibregtse dropped 20 while hitting six of his seven shot attempts from downtown, and Michael Imariagbe scored 14 off the bench and was perfect 6-for-6 from the field.
About Detroit Mercy (women): The Titans are off to an awesome start, winning four of their first five games. Out of their four wins, three of them came against schools from the Mid-American Conference: Bowling Green, Western Michigan, and Eastern Michigan. However, Detroit Mercy was picked to finish 8th in the Horizon League preseason polls. The Titans have only one returning starter in Myonna Hooper, as well as some returners in Latifa Amzil, Makayla Jackson and Maddie Diabate. But they also have brought in several talented transfers: Jasmine Edwards, Aaliyah McQueen, Emaia O’Brien, and Alize Tripp; not to mention a pair of good-looking freshmen in Kailey Starks and Anna Lassan. The list of players that transferred out of the program are the three Spaniards – Irene Mudua (uh-WREN-ay moo-DWAH) (Fordham), Emma Trawally Porta (San Francisco), and Lucia Fleta Robles (Florida International), as well as Amaya Burch, Paris Gilmore (Pearl River Community College), Kamari Forrest (Kilgore College), and Amaya Burch.
Fun fact: Amzil and her family are from Finland. Her older brother, Mustapha, played at both the University of Dayton and the University of New Mexico.
Detroit Mercy head coach profile: Kate Achter (OCK-terr) is in her 3rd year around the sun coaching the Titans. Last season, she helped turn around the women’s program and led them to an overall 17-16 record and a 6th place finish in the Horizon League with a 9-11 in conference play. Those 17 wins last year was one more win than the program had in their previous six seasons combined. Achter begun her head coaching career at Loyola-Chicago, where she spent six seasons (2016-22) and recorded a 67-110 record. During that time, she coached former Raider and defensive specialist Julia Hoefling (HEFF-ling) for Hoefling’s first three NCAA seasons with the Ramblers.
Wright State women’s starting lineup
• Amaya Staton, F (6-1, Gr., Merrimack transfer) – 11.3 ppg, 8.9 rpg, 1.3 bpg, 60.5% FG
• Claire Henson, G (5-10, Jr.) – 12.1 ppg, 6.4 rpg, 2.1 apg, 0.9 spg, 45% 3-PT
• Makiya Miller, G (5-7, Jr.) – 8.9 ppg, 2.3 rpg
• Macie Taylor, G (5-7, R-Soph.) – 11.3 ppg, 1.7 spg, 76.5% FT
• Olivia Brown, G (5-7, R-Soph., Akron transfer) – 3.4 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 2.6 apg, 1.3 spg; started the last six games
Wright State women’s rotation players
• Chloe Chard Peloquin, C (6-3, Jr., Canisius transfer) – 4.6 ppg, 5 rpg
• Lauren Scott G (5-7, Jr.) – 6.7 ppg, 23.7 mpg in 3 games (one start); has come off the bench the last two games since returning from a knee injury
• Rylee Sagester, G (5-7, R-Fr.) – 5.7 ppg, 37% 3-PT
• Ellie Magestro-Kennedy, G (5-7, R-Fr.) – 5.3 ppg
• Abbie Riddle, G (5-7, R-Fr., Bowling Green transfer) – 1.7 ppg, 0.7 rpg; played the last three games since her knee injury
• Florrie Cotterill 🏴, F (6-2, Fr.) – 0.5 ppg, 0.5 rpg, 0.2 spg in six games
Rest of the Wright State women’s roster: https://wsuraiders.com/sports/womens-basketball/roster
Game note: It’ll be a reunion between Henson and O’Brien since they were teammates at Long Island University in the 2022-23 season.
Detroit Mercy starting lineup
• Jasmine Edwards, F (6-0, Gr., NAIA Warner University transfer) – 5.6 ppg, 5.4 rpg, 0.4 bpg, 0.8 spg; begun her college career at Jackson State
• Aaliyah McQueen, G (5-9, 5th-year, NAIA Madonna University) – 14.6 ppg, 7.2 rpg, 1.8 ast, 1.8 spg, 42.3% 3-PT; started her NCAA career at Illinois and then played at Oakland
• Makayla Jackson, G (5-8, Soph.) – 7.2 ppg, 2 spg, 51.7% FG, 85.7% FT
• Myonna Hooper, G (5-5, Jr.) – 10.4 ppg, 3.2 apg, 0.8 spg
• Emaia O’Brien, G (5-1, Gr., Long Island transfer) – 11.2 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 2.2 apg, 2 spg, 83.3% FT
Detroit Mercy rotation players
• Kailey Starks, G (5-7, Fr.) — 7.2 ppg, 1.2 spg, 85.7% FT
• Alize Tripp, G (5-6, Sr., NAIA Spring Arbor transfer) – 5 ppg, 38.5% 3-PT; started her career at NAIA Concordia in Ann Arbor, MI
• Anna Lassan, G/F (5-11, Fr.) – 3.2 ppg, 2.2 rpg
• Maddie Diabate 🇫🇷, G (5-9, Sr.) – 1.2 ppg, 2.2 rpg, 0.8 spg
• Addisen Mastriano, F/C (6-3, Fr.) – 0.7 ppg, rpg; sat out the first two games
Rest of Detroit Mercy women’s roster: https://detroittitans.com/sports/womens-basketball/roster
About Oakland (men): The Golden Grizzlies are the defending and undisputed Horizon League Champions and were picked to finish 4th in the Horizon League in front of Wright State. They are coming off their best season in their NCAA Division I era as they knocked off Kentucky in the First Round of the 2024 NCAA Tournament mainly thanks to Jack Gohlke’s 32 points off the bench along with shooting 10-of-20 three-pointers. Here’s what has happened since then: Gohlke, Blake Lampman, and Rocket Watts have all graduated; while leading scorer Trey Townsend transferred to Arizona and big man Chris Conway transferred to Washington. However, they are led by returners D.Q. Cole, Buru Naivalurua and Cooper Craggs; along with transfers Allen Mukeba (UMKC), Jayson Woodrich (Cleveland State), Jaylen Jones (Tennessee State), and Malcolm Christie (Dalhousie University). Oakland is 2-4 to begin the 2024-25 season and have the 16th-worst scoring offense in the country (63 ppg).
Oakland head coach profile: Greg Kampe is in his 41st season and has 701 wins for his career, all of which have come with Oakland. His 700th career victory came in their season opener on November 4 against Defiance, making Kampe the 10th active Division I to reach the 700-win plateau and just the third to ever do it all at one school, joining Tom Izzo with Michigan State and Mark Few with Gonzaga.
Wright State men’s starting lineup
• Brandon Noel (noll), F (6-8/240, R-Jr.) – 21 ppg, 8 rpg, 1.4 bpg, 1.4 spg
• Michael Imariagbe (eh-mar-ee-bay), F (6-7/220, Sr., transfer from Houston Christian) – 6.2 points, 3.6 rebounds; has started seven of the first nine games
• Alex Huibregtse (HUE-bricks), G (6-3/205, R-Sr.) — 16.6 points, 4 reb, 3.1 apg, 45.6% 3-PT FG
• Logan Woods (6-5/185, R-Soph.) – 8.2 points, 43.3% 3-PT
• Keaton Norris, G (6-0/175, R-Jr.) – 6 ppg, 5.2 apg, 1.8 spg
Wright State men’s rotation players
• Jack Doumbia, F (6-6/210, R-Sr., transfer from Norfolk State) – 8.3 ppg, 5 rpg, 1.6 apg, 1.3 spg; started in the Myrtle Beach Invitational loss against Bradley and last Saturday’s win against Air Force
• Solomon Callaghan, G (6-2/195, R-Fr.) – 4.9 ppg in eight games
• Andrew Welage, G (6-6/205, Gr.) – 3 ppg
• Drey Carter, F (6-8/210, R-Soph.) – 2.9 ppg, 1.6 rpg; has started one game
Rest of the Wright State men’s roster: https://wsuraiders.com/sports/mens-basketball/roster
Oakland starting lineup
• Allen Mukeba 🇧🇪, F (6-6/247, Gr., UMKC transfer) – 12.4 ppg, 5.4 rpg, 1.6 bpg, spg; played and started in five games
• Buru Naivalurua 🇦🇺, F (6-6/239, Sr.) – 12.5 ppg, 8.2 rpg, spg
• Cooper Craggs, F (6-5/224, R-Soph.) – 4.2 ppg, 2.5 rpg, 1.2 apg; started four of six games played
• Jayson Woodrich, G/F (6-7/205, Gr., Cleveland State transfer) – 7.3 ppg, 5.8 rpg, 1.7 spg
• D.Q. Cole, G (6-3/222, Sr.) – 12 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 85.7% FT
Oakland rotation players
• Jaylen Jones, G (6-1/160, Soph., Tennessee State transfer) – 6.3 ppg, 4 apg; played all six games (one start)
• Malcolm Christie 🇨🇦, G (6-5/185, Sr., Dalhousie University transfer) – 7.2 ppg
• Deng Majak 🇸🇩, F (6-9/182, Jr.) – 1.2 ppg, 2 rpg; played all six games (one start)
• Nassim Mashhour, G (6-5/200, Fr.) – 2.4 ppg, 1.6 rpg; played five of six games (one start)
Rest of Oakland men’s roster: https://goldengrizzlies.com/sports/mens-basketball/roster
