Wright State Prepares for NKU on Saturday

0
129
Photos courtesy of Wright State Athletics

The Wright State women’s basketball team (5-17, 3-9 Horizon) will return home for the weekend to face the Northern Kentucky Norse on Saturday, February 1 at 2ET at the Nutter Center. It’s their annual National Girls and Women in Sports Day game, which can also be seen on ESPN Plus.

Last time out: This past Wednesday night, Kari Hoffman’s crew got blown out by the Robert Morris Colonials 74-53 at the UPMC Events Center and are now 0-10 in road games this season. They made just 34 percent of their shots from the floor (22-of-53) and 23.5 percent of their threes (4-of-17), but they made a respectable 73.9 percent of their free throws (17-of-23). Claire Henson was the only Raider that scored in double digits as she finished with 15 points, nine rebounds and three steals. Makiya Miller recorded with nine points and five steals, while Macie Taylor had nine points off the bench.

The RMU women and first-year head coach Chandler McCabe won their fourth straight games for the first time since the 2019-20 season and outrebounded WSU 38-19. Their only bad stat was committing 21 turnovers, which was four more than Wright State who had 17. The Colonials also had a great all-around shooting performance as they made 54 percent of their buckets from the field (27-of-54), 50 percent of their three-pointers (7-of-14), and 88.2 percent of their foul shots (15-of-17). Mya Murray led all scorers with 16 points on 6-of-9 shots from the field, Katelyn Chomko had 12 points off the bench and hit 4-of-5 shots from downtown, 11 points for Isys Grady, nine points and six rebounds off the bench for Naomi Barnwell, and eight points and 10 rebounds for Raissa Nsabua.

About the opponent: Northern Kentucky (8-15, 5-7 Horizon) was picked to finish seventh this season in the Horizon League preseason polls and are currently tied for sixth with Robert Morris in the standings. Their leading scorer and rebounder is Northeastern transfer Halle Idowu (12.3 ppg, 6 rpg), while Macey Blevins is their second-top scorer at 11.7 points per game. Also on the team are IUPUI transfers Jaci Jones and Abby Wolterman. Two of last year’s players, Kailee Davis and Allison Basye, are both sitting out the season due to injuries.

Opponent head coach profile: Jeff Hans is in his first season as the head coach of the Norse, taking over for Camryn Volz, who resigned after her second round of abuse allegations and left NKU with a $250,000 payment. Hans came over from Thomas More University, where he spent the past 13 seasons and left as the winningest coach in school history (339). During his tenure, he led the Saints to eight conference regular season titles, eight conference tournament titles, a pair of Division II National Championships, one NAIA National Championships, and a pair of NAIA National Runners-Up.

Wright State women’s starting lineup (from their last two games)
• Amaya Staton, F (6-1, Gr., Merrimack transfer) – 9.9 ppg, 7.5 rpg, 1.6 bpg (leads Horizon), 51.6% FG, 76.9% FT, 20.8 mpg; leads the Horizon League in total blocked shots (36) and personal fouls (71)
• Claire Henson, G (5-10, Jr.) – 10.4 ppg, 5.7 rpg, 1.3 spg, 37% 3-PT
• Makiya Miller, G (5-7, Jr.) – 8.2 ppg, 2.8 rpg, 1.3 spg, 32.9% 3-PT
• Lauren Scott, G (5-7, Jr.) – 7.7 ppg, 71.4% FT in 18 games (15 starts)
• Olivia Brown, G (5-7, R-Soph. Akron transfer) – 3.2 ppg, 2.5 rpg, 2.7 apg, 1.3 spg; started 11 games, including the last five

Wright State women’s rotation players
• Macie Taylor, G (5-7, R-Soph.) – 8.1 ppg, 1.2 spg, 80.9% FT; started the first 17 games
• Abbie Riddle, G (5-10, R-Fr., Bowling Green transfer) – 3.8 ppg, 2.5 rpg, 17.9 mpg in 15 games (one start)
• Rylee Sagester, G (5-7, R-Fr.) – 5.6 ppg, 37.6% 3-PT, 88.9% FT (16-of-18), 15.5 mpg
• Chloe Chard Peloquin, C (6-3, Jr., Canisius transfer) – 4.7 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 0.6 bpg, 15.5 mpg in 19 games
• Ellie Magestro-Kennedy, G (5-7, R-Fr.) – 4.5 ppg, 1.9 rpg, 11.3 mpg in 21 games
• Florrie Cotterill 🇬🇧🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿, F (6-2, Fr.) – 1.3 ppg, 0.7 rpg, 4.7 mpg in 15 games

Rest of Wright State’s roster: https://wsuraiders.com/sports/womens-basketball/roster

Northern Kentucky starting lineup (from their last four games)
• Abby Wolterman, F (6-0, Jr., IUPUI transfer) – 5.6 ppg, 4.6 rpg, 1.6 bpg
• Halle Idowu, G/F (5-11, Gr.) – 12.3 ppg, 6 rpg, 0.9 spg, 0.5 bpg, played and started 22 games
• Mya Meredith, G (5-11, Sr.) – 9.8 ppg, 5.9 rpg, 1.5 spg, 75.5% FT in 21 games (15 starts); started her career at Western Kentucky where she was the 2021-22 Conference USA Rookie of the Year
• Macey Blevins, G (5-10, Sr.) – 11.7 ppg, 1.6 spg, 34.2% 3-PT in 18 games (17 starts); started her career at Western Kentucky
• Jaci Jones, G (5-5, Gr., IUPUI transfer) – 5.3 ppg, 3.2 rpg, 3.3 apg (4th in Horizon), 0.8 spg, 91.3% FT (21-of-23); 55th in the country in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.08), 4th in the Horizon League with 77 assists

Northern Kentucky rotation players
• Kamora Morgan 🇨🇦, G (6-0, Fr.) – 8.4 ppg, 2.8 rpg, 0.5 spg, 72.9% FT; started eight games
• Kalissa Lacy, G (5-9, Sr.) – 6.3 ppg, 14.6 mpg ; started her career at Eastern Kentucky
• Anna Hamilton, G (5-5, Fr.) – 3.4 ppg, 3 rpg, 1.3 apg, 0.7 spg, 18.2 mpg, 89.5% FT (17-of-19); started six games
• Noelle Hubert, G (5-11, Soph.) – 3.1 ppg, 1.3 rpg, 34.5% 3-PT, 12.1 mpg
• Gabby Razzano, C (6-2, Soph.) – 2.2 ppg, 1.4 rpg, 9.9 mpg in 20 games (one start)

Rest of Northern Kentucky’s rosterhttps://nkunorse.com/sports/womens-basketball/roster

Series history: It will be the 33rd matchup all-time between these two schools, with Wright State leading the series by one game at 17-16.

Leave a Reply