The Wright State Raiders women’s basketball team gave it a great effort in the early going against the Wisconsin-Green Bay Phoenix, but WSU eventually ended up on the wrong side of the result in a 69-51 defeat on Saturday afternoon at the Kress Events Center.
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Macie Taylor opened the day with a bang by giving WSU a 5-0 lead with a 3-pointer and a driving layup before the Phoenix took the lead with a 7-0 run that was capped off by a made 3-ball from Callie Genke. Then, Staton helped WSU regain the advantage with a 3-point play to make it 8-7. The game stayed close with 5 lead changes in the opening period.
While Wright State played great defense early on and had a 4-point lead, Green Bay went on a 9-0 run from the end of the 1st quarter to the start of the 2nd quarter to go up and never relinquished the lead after that. Miah Meyer ended the 1st quarter with a layup to give Green Bay the 15-13 after one. Then, Cassie Schiltz opened quarter number two with a made 3-ball to make it 18-13.
WSU stayed close with UWGB in the 2nd quarter, but Guyer hit a line drive triple with 5:01 left in the period make it 26-19. Then, Natalie McNeal hit the last shot of the quarter with under a minute to go as the Phoenix were rising into the locker room with the 31-22 halftime advantage.
In the 2nd half, Genke kicked off the 3rd quarter with a 3-pointer to put the Phoenix up 34-22 and Green Bay had the double-digit advantage for the rest of the afternoon.
Overall, Wright State (2-14, 0-6 Horizon) shot a 37.7 percent from the floor (20-of-53) and 23.5 percent from 3-land (4-of-17). Ironically, WSU shot a solid 55.6 percent in the first quarter (5-of-9).
Claire Henson was the only Raider that scored in double-figures, scoring 9 of her 19 points in the 3rd period while also grabbing 6 rebounds and dishing out 4 assists; while Amaya Staton and Makiya Miller each added 9 points on the day. Kari Hoffman’s crew have dropped their 10th straight game, which is tied for the 5th-longest losing streak in school history.
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Green Bay (11-5, 4-1 Horizon) – the fourth-place team in the conference who have now won four straight games – ended the day shooting 43.1 percent from the field (25-of-58), 37.5 percent on 3-pointers (6-of-16), and 76.5 percent on foul shots (13-of-17).
1st-year head coach Kayla Karius had 3 of her Phoenix players in double-figure scoring: 14 points for Genke, followed by 13 points each from McNeal and Schiltz. Guyer was a field goal shy of a double-double with 8 points and 10 rebounds off the bench, Jasmine Kondrakiewicz contributed with 8 points and 9 rebounds, and Bailey Butler recorded 5 points and 8 assists.
Note: Genke – last year’s Horizon League co-6th Woman of the Year – started her 6th game of the season and earned her 4th straight start in place of the injured Maddy Schreiber.
Up next:
It doesn’t get any easier for Wright State as they return home on Wednesday, January 8 to host the Detroit Mercy Titans. The game is set for a 7ET tip-off and can be seen on ESPN+.
