The Wright State women’s basketball team brought the smoke on their annual National Girls and Women in Sports Day game and never trailed throughout the afternoon with a 75-67 win at the NuttHouse over their conference rival, the Northern Kentucky Norse.
Wright State opened the day with a 9-2 run, starting with three layups from Amaya Staton and a three-pointer by Rylee Sagester. After a turnaround shot in the paint from NKU’s Halle Idowu, Chloe Chard Peloquin nailed back-to-back layups followed by a bucket from Lauren Scott to take the 15-6 lead. After a media timeout, Staton continued her hot start with a bucket down low to make it 17-6.
With under two minutes to go in the period, Macie Taylor completed a “Taylor-made” three-point play to make it 20-9. The Norse answered back and cut the lead down to nine with a second-chance bucket from Macey Blevins before Chard Peloquin countered with a bucket of her own to make it 22-11. After a free throw from Mya Meredith, Chard Peloquin nailed another layup in the paint for the final points of the period. Just like that, Kari Hoffman’s crew had the 24-12 advantage after one, with Staton and Chard Peloquin each scoring eight points in the period.
Just 20 seconds into the last stages of the first half, Taylor opened up the second quarter with a drive to the cup and gave WSU their largest lead of the day at 14 with a 26-12 advantage. Northern Kentucky fought back with five quick points of their own thanks to a jumper by backup point guard Anna Hamilton and a three-pointer from Meredith to cut the deficit down to single digits at 26-17. Staton and Sagester put up shots in the paint, while Blevins completed a three-point play, making the score 30-20 at the media timeout.
The Raiders raised the lead back to 14 with a Scott three followed by a Claire Henson free throw to make it 34-20. NKU added back-to-back buckets from Blevins and Meredith while WSU came back with a Taylor hook shot and free throws from Staton to make it 38-24. Then, Blevins hit a big-time three pointer to cut the lead down to 11 with 40 seconds left as the green and gold were up 38-27 at recess. In the first half, young Amaya was on mission and ended up “Staton” her case already with a double-double in the first 20 minutes: 12 points, 10 rebounds, and a pair of blocks.
The Norse wasted no time coming out firing out of the halftime break and immediately cut WSU’s lead down to two possessions digits as they started off the third quarter scoring nine of the first 11 points of the period with layups by Kamora Morgan, Meredith and Blevins; followed by a three from Idowu that made it 42-36.
Makiya Miller answered with some made foul shots to make it 44-36, but NKU made it a one-possession affair with four straight points by Meredith courtesy of free throws and a layup to make it 50-48. However, the Raiders scored the last five points of the period with three free throws combined by Miller and Sagester, followed by Scott’s buzzer-beating layup to make it 55-48 after three quarters of play.
The final quarter was the closest of the game, as WSU outscored the Norse by just one, 20-19. Miller led the quarter with six points, shooting 4-of-4 on the line, closely trailed by Henson and Scott with five points each. NKU opened the fourth quarter with a three-pointer from Kalissa Lacy and a mid-range shot from Hamilton, which made it 55-53. The Raiders answered by scoring seven of the next nine points with a jump shot from Henson and five consecutive points from Scott thanks to a layup and a three for the 62-55 lead with a little over seven minutes left.
Then, Idowu and Sagester traded layups before a Henson free throw made it 65-57. WSU was up by 10 at 71-61 courtesy of back-to-back layups from Henson and Taylor, but a three-point shot from Jaci Jones cut the lead down to seven and made it another three-possession game at 71-64 with 2:35 left to go. The game stayed scoreless until under a minute as Miller drew a foul on Hamilton and knocked down a pair of big time foul shots to make it a nine-point cushion at 73-64.
NKU took possession and Lacy missed a three-pointer, but Jones grabbed a big offensive board and passed it outside to Blevins for a big time triple that made it 73-67 with 25 seconds to go. However, Miller went back to the line and made both attempts to close the game.
Wright State (6-17, 4-9 Horizon) shot 45 percent overall the from the field (27-of-60) and an abysmal 18.8 percent from downtown (3-of-16), but they shot a very good 85.7 percent on free throws (18-of-21). Staton led the squad with her seventh double-double of the season consisting of 16 points, 13 rebounds, three blocks, and a steal.
The WSU women were also “Cookin with ‘Kiya” as Miller scored 11 points, had two steals, blocked a shot, and made nine of her 10 free throw attempts. The Raider bench scored 30 of the team’s 75 points: 13 from Taylor, 11 from Sagester, and eight coming from Chard Peloquin.
Northern Kentucky (8-16, 5-8 Horizon) ended the afternoon shooting 42.2 percent overall (27-of-64), 28.6 percent from three-point territory (6-of-21), and 70 percent from the free throw line (7-of-10). Blevins led all scorers with 24 points plus six rebounds, followed by 16 points from Meredith.
Up next: Wright State will remain at home to host the IU Indy Jaguars on Wednesday, February 5 for a 7ET/6CT tip-off.