Wright State Hoops Suffer Wacky Wednesday Losses

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Photo courtesy of Wright State Athletics

Final scores
Women’s game: Grand Canyon 82, Wright State 69
Men’s game: Youngstown State 80, Wright State 70

The Wright State Raiders men’s and women’s basketball teams were looking for Christmas to come early for them, but the Grinch came out and pretty much stole away their pre-holiday joy in a Wednesday coast-to-coast doubleheader. It marks the first time since December 13, 2023 that both squads have lost on the exact same day.

Earlier this afternoon, Kari Hoffman and the women’s team (2-9, 0-3 Horizon) traveled down to Phoenix, AZ for a four-day, three-game event called “The GCU Women’s Basketball Have Fayth Christmas Classic” at the Global Union Credit Arena, where they lost to host Grand Canyon 82-69. The Raider women have suffered their fifth straight loss, while the Antelopes (9-2) have now won seventh in a row.

Macie Taylor left the game with 6:20 to go in the first quarter due to a concussion. After grabbing a defensive rebound, she turned around and ran into a head-on collision with Callie Cooper. Taylor bled from her head and got helped walking into the locker room, but she will likely miss the next two games in Phoenix.

Early on in the game, the lead changed five times along with eight ties, and Wright State had the 20-18 lead at the end of the 1st quarter. But in the second quarter, the Antelopes took over and never trailed for the rest of the contest. Molly Miller’s squad scored 12 unanswered points and even held the Raiders without a single point for 5½ minutes during that timespan before leading 40-31 after the first 20 minutes.

The sharpshooting Rylee Sagester, who scored a career-high 24 points off the bench on Monday against Cleveland State, was held to only 4 points on the afternoon (all on free throws).

Laura Erikstrup, who came in ranked 44th in the NCAA with a 55 percent field-goal percentage, shot 75 percent from the field (9-of-12) as she led everyone with 20 points to go along with a career-high 14 rebounds.

Grand Canyon led by as many as 21 in the 3rd quarter and shot a staggering 71.4 percent on field goals in that period (10-of-14), while Wright State only cut the deficit down to 10 in the 4th and it was as close as they would get.

Overall, Grand Canyon shot 57.1 percent from the field (36-of-61) and 35.3 percent from 3-point territory (6-of-17).

As for Wright State, they shot only 39 percent from the field (23-of-59) and 33.3 percent from downtown (8-of-24), but they did make an impressive 83.3 percent of their foul shots (15-of-18).

While the Wright State women had 28 points from the bench, Grand Canyon scored 22 of their 82 points off 17 turnovers from the Raiders and even tallied up 58 points in the paint.

Wright State women’s stats
• Lauren Scott (Jr.): 14 points (2/4 3-PT FG), 3 steals
• Ellie Magestro-Kennedy (R-Fr.): 13 points off the bench (3/9 3-PT FG)
• Makiya Miller (Jr.): 11 points (2/3 3-PT FG), 2 steals
• Claire Henson (Jr.): 10 points (2/12 FG, 5/5 FT)
• Amaya Staton (Gr., Merrimack transfer): 6 points, 6 rebounds, block
• Olivia Brown (Soph., Akron transfer): 3 points, 3 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals off the bench

Grand Canyon stats
• Laura Erikstrup (Gr.): 20 points (9/12 FG), career-high 14 rebounds
• Tiarra Brown (Gr.): 18 points (9/13 FG)
• Trinity San Antonio (Sr.): 17 points (8/14 FG), 6 rebounds, 10 assists, 3 steals
• Alyssa Durazo-Frescas (Sr., UNLV transfer): 12 points (4/10 3-PT FG), 3 steals
• Ale’jah Douglas (R-Sr., Oklahoma State transfer): 5 points, 4 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals off the bench

Later on that evening in Dayton, Ohio, the men’s team and head coach Clint Sargent went toe-to-toe with in-state rival Youngstown State throughout the night in the annual Holiday Game, but the Penguins kept at it and ended up with the 80-70 victory. Ethan Faulkner’s boys from Youngstown have won their 5th straight game overall, their 5th straight win over in-state rival WSU, and they have now beaten the green and gold in 8 of the last 10 matchups. It’s also the third time in a row that they have beaten Wright State at the Nutter Center and have not lost to the Raiders on the road since February 24, 2022.

The Wright State men took the early lead in the 1st Half 15-5 after going on an 11-0 run and were up by as many as 12, but they let the Penguins waddle back into it and were only up 40-35 at halftime. In the 2nd half, there were 7 lead changes as the teams kept trading baskets until YSU took the lead for good on a dunk by Gabe Dynes and finished the night on a 15-5 run to put the game out of reach. The 7-3 Dynes, who came into the game leading the country in blocked shots with 39 total and averaging 3.5 per game, didn’t have a single one on the night.

WSU outrebounded YSU 38-33, but the Penguins had the advantage with 15 second chance points, 19 points off 14 Raider turnovers, and 32 points coming from their bench. Youngstown State also only had seven turnovers.

Wright State shot a solid 47.3 percent from the field (26-of-55) and 41.7 percent from downtown (10-of-24), but their free throws cost them as they hit an inexcusable 53.3 percent of their foul shots (8-of-15).

Youngstown State shot 44.4 percent from the floor (28-of-63), 33.3 percent on 3-pointers (10-of-30), and 66.7 percent on free throws (14-of-21).

You can go on YouTube to hear post-game comments from Coach Sargent, Keaton Norris and Logan Woods:

Youngstown State stats
• Ty Harper (5th-year, NAIA The Master’s transfer): 16 points (3/6 3-PT FG)
• Jason Nelson (Jr., VCU transfer): 15 points off the bench
• Cris Carroll (Jr., JUCO transfer): 10 points (4/7 FG), played only 12 minutes due to having 5 fouls
• Gabe Dynes (Soph.): 10 points (5/8 FG), 6 rebounds off the bench
• Nico Galette (Gr., Sacred Heart transfer): 9 points (3/9 FG), 8 rebounds, 7 assists
• E.J. Farmer (Sr.): 7 points, 5 rebounds

Wright State men’s stats
• Jack Doumbia (R-Sr., Norfolk State transfer): 17 points (6/14 FG), 10 rebounds, 3 blocks
• Alex Huibregtse (R-Sr.): 15 points (3/7 3-PT FG)
• Brandon Noel (5th-year R-Jr.): 10 points, 10 rebounds
• Logan Woods (R-Soph.): 8 points (2/6 3-PT FG)
• Keaton Norris (R-Jr.): 7 points, 3 rebounds, 4 assists
• Solomon Callaghan (R-Fr.): 9 points (3/5 FG) off the bench

Up next:
– The women will stay in Phoenix, AZ and play Georgia Southern on Thursday, December 19 at 2ET/12MT at the Global Credit Union Arena.
– The men will make another trip up north for a non-conference game against MAC opponent Eastern Michigan on Saturday, December 21 at 2ET at the Gervin GameAbove Center in Ypsilanti, MI.

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