The Wright State Raiders women’s basketball team started off good in the early going in their rematch against a tough Green Bay Phoenix team, but they eventually ended up on the wrong side of the scoreboard in a 75-63 home defeat on Thursday evening.
The Nutter Center honored Throwback Thursday with 80’s Night and played some legendary songs from the 80’s during game breaks.
Green Bay opened the night with back-to-back buckets from Jasmine Kondrakiewicz and Natalie McNeal before WSU went on to score the next seven points thanks to a three from Makiya Miller, a two from Claire Henson, and free throws from Chloe Chard Peloquin. The teams traded shots from that point on as WSU led 16-12 after a Lauren Scott layup with 1:42 left, but GB scored the last six points of the quarter with a made three from Jenna Guyer and a three-point play from McNeal to go up 18-16.
The second quarter began with nothing but goose eggs for the first 2:42 until Wright State scored the first five points of that quarter with a three from Henson and an Abbie Riddle layup to give them the 21-18 lead, but Green Bay then went on a 12-0 run that lasted 2:48 thanks to seven consecutive points from Kondrakiewicz and the next five coming from Cassie Schiltz to make it 30-21. From that point on, it was Phoenix rising yet again as Kayla Karius’ squad were up 36-27 at halftime and never trailed in the game again.
The Phoenix’s lead went up to 10 in the third quarter at 40-30 until the Raiders went on an 8-2 with another Miller three-pointer, a layup by Amaya Staton, and another made three from Olivia Brown to cut the deficit down to four at 42-38. However, Green Bay scored six of the next seven points with a Bailey Butler layup and a pair of free throws each by Callie Genke and Kondrakiewicz to go back up by 51-39. Just like that, the road team led by double-digits for the rest of the night.
Kari Hoffman’s Wright State team (4-16, 2-8 Horizon) made only 41.5 percent of their shots from the floor (22-of-53) and 64.3 of their free throws (9-of-14), but they shot good from three-point territory at 52.9 percent (9-of-17) and turned the ball over only nine times. Henson (12 points) and Miller (10 points) were the only Raiders that scored in double-figures, followed by nine points off the bench from Macie Taylor, and seven points each from Staton and Scott.
Green Bay (16-5, 8-2 Horizon), the 2nd-place team in the conference behind Purdue-Fort Wayne, are now winners of nine straight games and have beaten Wright State for the 12th consecutive time. They ended the evening shooting just 46.7 percent from the field (28-of-60) and 30.8 percent on 3-pointers (4-of-13), but they shot an outstanding 88.2 percent on foul shots (15-of-17). The Phoenix also won the rebound battle 41-27, committed only eight turnovers, and were up by as many as 24 in the fourth quarter.
The star of the night was Kondrakiewicz, who torched the Raiders with a career-high of 31 points and made 12 of her 17 shots from the field, with 11 of her points coming in the second quarter. Her previous career-high in points was 21, which came on January 24, 2024 against IUPUI (now known as IU Indy).
McNeal recorded just her second double-double of the season and ninth of her NCAA career (seventh with Green Bay), finishing with 15 points, 12 rebounds, and five assists. Genke and Guyer also contributed with nine points each.
Up next: It will be another battle of the bottom two teams in the conference as Wright State stays home for another rematch to host the Milwaukee Panthers on Saturday, January 25 for a 4ET/3CT tip-off.
