The Wright State Raiders women’s basketball team (3-14, 1-6 Horizon) finally had their losing ways coming to an end as they pulled the 67-64 upset over the Detroit Mercy Titans (10-4, 4-2 Horizon) at the Nutter Center, snapping a 10-game losing streak in the process.
Kari Hoffman’s ladies were on fire from 3-point land in the first half as they shot a staggering 63.6 percent from downtown (7-of-11) to take a 38-28 lead into the locker room, along with some buzzer-beating shots to end each quarter courtesy of Rylee Sagester in the first and Amaya Staton in the second.
WSU’s biggest lead of the half was 11 in the second quarter courtesy of back-to-back 3-point buckets from Lauren Scott, but their biggest of the night was 14 coming in the third quarter following another three by Sagester and a layup from Macie Taylor to make it 45-31. In that same quarter, Detroit Mercy went on an 8-0 run got a buzzer-beater of their own and ended the quarter on back-to-back layups from Maddie Diabate, including one at the buzzer as UDM made it a six-point deficit at 49-43.
The Titans opened the 4th quarter by growing that run to 8-0 with a bucket by Kailey Starks and another one from Diabate to make it a 49-47 deficit. WSU didn’t score a point for 4:17 before Staton ended the drought with a layup down low. Then, back-to-back foul shots made by Stark and a layup from Aaliyah McQueen tied it up at 53 all before WSU responded to move back ahead by two points at the 4:26 media timeout.
Following another tie at 55 all, Claire Henson completed a three-point play before McQueen nailed a huge triple to knot it up at 58 all. Wright State responded with a 7-0 run, with Staton scoring five of those points in the process, to go to a 65-58 advantage with 1:08 left. The Titans got right back into it as McQueen scored six unanswered points and gave her team a chance down by one at 65-64 with six seconds left. But with four seconds to go, Abbie Riddle drew a foul from Diabate and scored her only points of the whole game on back-to-back clutch free throws to make it 67-64. After Titans head coach Kate Achter called a timeout, Myonna Hooper missed the potential game-tying three-pointer as time expired.
Wright State shot 41.9 percent overall from the field, 42.1 from three-land, and 88 percent from the foul line (7-of-8). Henson and Sagester led the green and gold with 15 points each, Staton with 11 points, and nine points each for Macie Taylor and Lauren Scott. Henson and Staton each pulled down eight rebounds as well.
UDM finished shooting 37.5 percent overall (21-of-56), 23.1 percent on threes (3-of-13), and 90.9 percent on free throws (19-of-21). McQueen led UDM with 24 points and 11 rebounds, while Starks had 13 points off the bench.
Note: One of Wright State’s key reserves, backup post player Chloe Chard Peloquin, made her return after sitting out the last three games with an Achilles injury.
Up next:
Wright State welcomes in-state rival Youngstown State to town on Sunday, January 12 at 2ET on T1D Awareness Day.
