Wright State women’s basketball took a ten day break following their outing in Michigan to face Oakland and Detroit Mercy. Both of these outings didn’t end the Raiders’ way as they couldn’t put together four complete quarters, falling short in the second quarter offensively and defensively to sink their efforts at earning a Horizon League win. Their next opponent, Cleveland State, would not be an easier foe in their quest for that win.
Cleveland State entered the match on a six game winning streak, soundly defeating their Horizon League opponents Northern Kentucky and IU Indy at the start of competition. The current favorite to win the league, Cleveland State returns the majority of their cast from their regular season championship. Even the loss of Player of the Year Colbi Maples has not slowed down the march of the Vikings as Mickayla Perdue, Destiny Leo, Sara Guerreiro, and Jordana Reisma have continued to produce at a high rate. The main key for Cleveland State though has been its zone defense, which has held its last six opponents to less than 60 PPG.
The Raiders probably knew they’d need a pinch of magic for this matchup, so they brought Santa to town as part of the pre-game festivities. He is one cool dude.
Cleveland State coming to town means that I get the rare pleasure of seeing fellow HoriZone writer Kyle Rossi as well. Sitting two seats away from each other, we got to work snapping some pictures and chatting about the game and who we think would break out on the Raiders. We were joined by my companion writer James Moon as well and took a picture to commemorate the occasion. As the bell rang, Kyle settled in with writing his impressions of the game while I managed my video set up. Dividing and conquering, as they say.
Wright State started immediately on the wrong foot in the first period, allowing the Vikings to get a 10-point run started before two minutes had expired in the match. After a timeout, Rylee Sagester disrupted the Vikings perfect period with two three pointers to put pressure back on, but Cleveland’s zone defense kept the Raiders out of the paint with only one successful attempt underneath. Amaya Staton had to exit the first quarter fairly early with two fouls and the Raiders suffered for it. By the end of the first quarter, Cleveland State held a dominating 26-10 lead.
From there, the Raiders pushed against the Viking lead. With Lauren Scott and Rylee Sagester leading the charge from the arc, Wright State wrestled the lead back to a manageable 9 points, then Cleveland State pushed back. Attacking the Raiders weakness underneath, they continued to push into the paint and score at will with Jordana Reisma. By halftime, Cleveland State had wrestled back control of their lead 45-28. The load became unbearable when the Raiders didn’t make any headway in the third period, trading off scores in a high paced offensive showcase, and the Vikings used a messy opening to the fourth quarter to stretch their lead to 27. The Raiders would go on an absolute tear to end the match in garbage time, making three after three after three to end the contest 85-71.
“42 points in the paint was the story of the game and they’ve done that to us every time we’ve played them,” Hoffman sighed. “It was our goal to shoot way more inside, but they do a really good job of playing 1 on 1 when it gets in there and we were getting into foul trouble and our 5’s were run down a bit.”
The Raiders were looking for some Christmas magic tonight against the Horizon League’s juggernaut Cleveland State, but weren’t able to put together a full four quarters once again. Magic was present for the game with Rylee Sagester’s career effort, putting up 8-13 from the arc and 24 PTs to lead the Raiders overall. The eight threes is also an HL record for the season for a freshman. Lauren Scott (4-6), Makiya Miller (2-3) and Macie Taylor (2-3) also contributed to the massive shooting effort from three. Both Sagester’s individual threes and the team’s collective total of 16 scratched the Horizon League’s records for threes made. Wright State set the record in 2023 against Cleveland State with 18, and the individual record stands at 10, set in 2001 by Milwaukee’s Jessica Wilhite.
“I don’t think I was as good as Rylee,” Hoffman laughed, recalling her time in college basketball as a part of Cedarville’s 2001-2005 campaigns.
In similar matchups, the Raiders could’ve pointed to turnovers or to an overreliance of the three. Turnovers in this game weren’t a factor as the Raiders got two more points off of lost possessions than Cleveland State did. The three ball was at its best against Cleveland than it had been in any other game. When the dribble offense couldn’t get off the ground, the three ball stepped up in a major way. In many ways, each game presents a different and unique challenge to overcome and as one element gets better, another lesson has to be learned. The youth of this squad have taken these in stride and continue to develop their skills in preparation for the conference gauntlet.
“We were hanging with them, if you look at the scoring by quarters we were right there, except for the first [quarter],” Hoffman remarked. “They’re doing the right things day in and day out and I’m proud of their fight.”
Wright State hops on a plane and takes a trip to Grand Canyon next to kick off their MTE of the season, the Grand Canyon Christmas Classic. They’ll face the home team on the 18th, then Georgia Southern and Florida Atlantic while taking in the 80 degree weather in the dead of winter.
