| Rank | Team | LW | Change |
| 1 | Purdue Fort Wayne | 1 | – |
| 2 | Green Bay | 2 | – |
| 3 | Cleveland State | 3 | – |
| 4 | Detroit Mercy | 4 | – |
| 5 | Robert Morris | 8 | +3 |
| 6 | Northern Kentucky | 5 | -1 |
| 7 | Youngstown State | 9 | +2 |
| 8 | Oakland | 7 | -1 |
| 9 | IU Indianapolis | 6 | -3 |
| 10 | Wright State | 10 | – |
| 11 | Milwaukee | 11 | – |
The last time Purdue Fort Wayne lost was, literally, Thanksgiving Day, the final game of a disastrous MTE in Atlanta that dropped the Mastodons to 3-5. PFW’s winning streak reached a Bromenschenkelly 13 this past week, thanks to a tough road victory at Detroit Mercy on Wednesday, followed by a splattering of rival IU Indianapolis on Saturday. If you enjoy bonkers scoring runs, try this one: the contest with the Jaguars was tied 22-22 midway through the second quarter, then, by the first 75 seconds of the fourth quarter, the score was 69-36 (a 47-14 surge, if you don’t enjoy math). Three days before that, Sydney Freeman led a rally from an early deficit against a Titans team that managed to bottle up Lauren Ross (with an assist to some foul trouble) until the late going. The Dons’ regular season schedule ends with an absolute meat grinder – Cleveland State, Northern Kentucky, the UDM rematch, and the Wisconsin trip – but they’ll be heavily favored in the four games before that closing kick.
Green Bay’s ten-game winning streak feels modest next to PFW’s run, though the Phoenix have been just as ruthless as the league leaders since a historically-ugly home loss to Creighton on December 14th. The first Division I games during the streak were home victories over Wright State and Northern Kentucky and, appropriately enough, the most recent involved the return trip against those two schools to complete season sweeps. On Thursday in the Nutter Center, Jasmine Kondrakiewicz feasted against the Raiders’ paper-thin interior defense, going for a career high 31 points on 12-for-17 shooting, while Natalie McNeal added 15 points and 12 rebounds. The sledding was a bit tougher two days later against the likes of Halle Idowu, Mya Meredith and Abby Wolterman, but in true Green Bay fashion, the Phoenix were able to adapt and overcome some early offensive struggles with an 11-for-23 effort from three-point range led by Callie Genke, Cassie Schiltz, and Bailey Butler.
Though a much more definitive test – Green Bay at the Kress Center this coming Thursday – remains ahead, Cleveland State has largely looked the part over the last couple weeks, including decisive wins over Youngstown State and NCCAA opponent Ohio Christian on Thursday and Saturday (the OCU contest was essentially a replacement for the Vikings’ canceled game at Niagara in November). Since falling to Purdue Fort Wayne’s aerial assault on January 12th, CSU has allowed just 47.8 points per game over four outings, and though that hasn’t occurred against a run of title contenders, it’s worth remembering that the Vikings allowed 67 and 74 points to the likes of Chicago State and Akron early in the season. Sara Guerreiro flirted with Cleveland State’s first triple-double since 2012 against the Penguins, eventually “settling” for 18 points, 12 rebounds, seven assists and four steals. The OCU contest saw every Viking except for Grace Ellis and injured Colbi Maples score points in a 107-46 victory, paced by Mickayla Perdue’s 19.
After Detroit Mercy lost both of its games this past week, the Horizon League pecking order following the top three looks muddier than it has in quite some time. Still, the Titans remain the only team in the conference with a winning record (whether looking at the overall mark or within the HL), so Kate Achter and company deserve to retain some benefit of the doubt. Despite an upset loss to Robert Morris on Saturday, it’s not like UDM played poorly all week. Against table-topping Purdue Fort Wayne on Wednesday, the Titans led by ten after the first quarter, then later rallied to spend most of the fourth quarter within two or three possessions of the Mastodons. Aaliyah McQueen scored her 1,000th career point in the defeat to the Colonials, while Katie Burton (who only became eligible this semester after transferring from Buffalo) has become a high-end secondary option.
After defeating Akron on November 13th, Robert Morris went 3-11 over the following 14 games, beating only last place Milwaukee, new Division I program Mercyhurst, and perennial sub-300 doormat St. Bonaventure during that stretch. Then, seemingly overnight, Chandler McCabe’s program seemed to turn a corner. The Colonials have won three games in a row, all on the road, including Youngstown State (always a tough place to play, regardless of the Penguins’ record) on January 18th, followed by a sweep of Oakland and Detroit Mercy this past week, with RMU running up double digit margins during both games in Michigan. That modest streak now has the Colonials right in the thick of the conference race and, given the caliber of the victories, offers the notion that even more is possible, particularly given that Danielle Vuletich remains out. However, Noa Givon, Mya Murray, and Raissa Nsabua have done more than enough to lead the way.
Speaking of turning corners, Northern Kentucky hasn’t quite yet, but the Norse have the consistent feeling of a team on the verge of it. Most recently, Jeff Hans’ crew enjoyed what has to be considered a very solid week, as NKU hosted the Wisconsin schools and put together a win over Milwaukee, along with a very competitive loss to Green Bay. The heavily-favored Phoenix led that latter game by just three late in the third quarter, before going on a mini-run to create a bit of separation in a 64-56 outcome, though notably, NKU limited a perpetually-efficient GB squad to just 32.8 percent shooting. Macey Blevins fired home 16 points in that game to lead all scorers, and she helped clinch the Milwaukee result with five free throws in the final minute of play after the Norse nearly squandered an 11-point fourth quarter lead.
Jewel Watkins scored her 1,000th career point in Youngstown State’s impressive 73-56 win over Oakland on Sunday, a milestone that included a game-high 22 tallies. Malia Magestro added 19 points (including several pivotal three-pointers) as YSU closed the first half on a 13-0 run and fended off each OU rally over the final 20 minutes. The victory officially inserted the Penguins into the thick of the Horizon League race at 4-7 in the conference – the same mark as RMU, NKU and IU Indianapolis, a four-way tie for sixth, and just a game behind the Golden Grizzlies for fifth place and a coveted first-round bye. The Guins’ next two games will include Purdue Fort Wayne and Green Bay on the opposite bench, so it will be tough to keep Sunday’s momentum rolling, but YSU’s defense typically keeps them in games, and they’ve proven to have enough offense when Watkins and Magestro are both firing at the same time.
It needs to be said that Oakland still sits fifth in the HL standings before springing any predictions of disaster, but that position feels as tenuous as ever after the Grizzlies’ loss at Youngstown State. Since upsetting Cleveland State on January 3rd, a moment that made Maddy Skorupski and company look like a legitimate title contender, OU has lost six of seven, including absolute bottlings by Purdue Fort Wayne and Green Bay, but also double-digit losses to both Robert Morris and YSU this past week. What happened? It may be an oversimplification to say that Oakland goes as Macy Smith goes, but it does have some basis in reality. The team’s second-leading scorer is about as streaky as shooters come, and in the win over the Vikings, she connected on nine of her 15 field goal tries, for 22 points. Since then, she’s gone 28-for-85 (32.9 percent) during OU’s skid.
One of the curses of having very little separation in the middle of the standings, seemingly a perpetual reality in the Horizon League, is that there’s very little week-to-week reliability. A team like IU Indianapolis can put together a stretch of wins against teams like Robert Morris, Oakland, and Wright State that will make the Jaguars look like a top four or top five contender, then, on the next check, they’re getting ragdolled by Cleveland State and rival Purdue Fort Wayne. Is there any sort of objective reality that can be identified from all of that? Not really. If nothing else, IU Indy can typically count on Katie Davidson and Shania Nichols-Vannett, who went for 27 and 19 points, respectively, on Saturday against the Mastodons, enough to keep the game close until the avalanche arrived midway through the second quarter. The Jags are now completely done with both PFW and CSU this regular season, so they probably have a modest schedule advantage on the rest of the teams occupying the standings glut.
The nature of the HL is such that Wright State was on a ten-game losing streak not too long ago, and now, after piecing together victories in three of their last five outings, the Raiders sit just one game behind that massive sixth-place tie in the standings. Pretty wild. WSU’s most recent efforts involved hosting the Wisconsin teams this past week and putting up a solid fight against Green Bay before downing Milwaukee 69-61 on Saturday behind a monster 13-point, 12-rebound effort from Amaya Staton, one of the league’s most underrated players. The contest also represented a return to the Nutter Center for former Raider Kacee Baumhower (the teams have already met in Milwaukee; the Panthers took that clash), who managed 13 points, but needed 14 shot attempts to compile them. Claire Henson’s 12 points and four rebounds paced Wright State against the Phoenix.
It should be said that Milwaukee is probably a better team than its record. In their current six-game losing streak – a slide that includes a game at Purdue Fort Wayne – the Panthers have fallen by a combined 32 points, just over five per contest. Generally speaking, they’re right there with the middle of the pack, a play or two away from victory. Still, it’s awfully hard to talk your way around a 4-18 (1-10 HL) mark, no matter how many of those games involved taking a Cleveland State or an Oakland to overtime. If there is a bright spot from this past week’s losses to Northern Kentucky and Wright State, it might be the performance of Jorey Buwalda against the Norse. Buwalda was one of the conference’s best freshmen last year, but so far this season, she’s played nearly an identical role and an identical number of minutes for Kyle Rechlicz (as opposed to the natural progression one might expect). However, against the Norse, she matched her career high with 20 points (on 8-for-11 shooting) while also logging team highs of seven rebounds and three assists.
Player of the Week
Raissa Nsabua (Robert Morris)
Though Kondrakiewicz’s career high, Watkins’ milestone, or Perdue’s game-to-game excellence are all valid arguments, Robert Morris’ sweep of Oakland and Detroit Mercy was the story of the week in the Horizon League. And, simply put, Nsabua’s efforts were as responsible as anyone’s for that story.
Also considered: Mickayla Perdue (Cleveland State), Jasmine Kondrakiewicz (Green Bay), Jewel Watkins (Youngstown State), Macey Blevins (Northern Kentucky)
Past winners:
January 19: Mickayla Perdue (Cleveland State)
January 12: Natalie McNeal (Green Bay)
January 5: Sydney Freeman (Purdue Fort Wayne)
December 29: Maddy Skorupski (Oakland)
December 22: Aaliyah McQueen (Detroit Mercy)
December 15: Jordana Reisma (Cleveland State)
December 8: Lauren Ross (Purdue Fort Wayne)
December 1: Halle Idowu (Northern Kentucky)
November 24: Lauren Ross (Purdue Fort Wayne)
