Fort Wayne, IN – The air, the sleet, and the Komet’s ice under the hardwood were all ice cold this Saturday afternoon at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum. The Purdue Fort Wayne Mastodons (20-5, 15-0 Horizon League) led by Head coach Maria Marchesano were piping hot coming into the game. Coming into the second season matchup against the Wright State Raiders (6-19, 4-10 Horizon League), the Mastodons had zero intentions of letting their program record 16-game winning streak end there. With some juice from the bench and scoring from some familiar names, the Mastodons cruised to a 74-52 victory to put the ‘Dons 3-0 in Mastodon Mania and 17 consecutive victories.
First Quarter: Like many times in this season, the Mastodon’s flat early offense was saved off life support from their stellar defense. Renna Schwieterman was tasked with the near impossible task of shutting down Wright State’s go-to offensive weapon in Amaya Staton. Schwieterman tried her best, and did a pretty respectable job on the first two possessions forcing a missed shot and travel by Staton. Audra Emmerson got the scoring started for the Mastodons with a basket two minutes into the contest.
Wright State’s Makiya Miller responded with a three-point shot giving the short lived lead to the Raiders. The Mastodons got hit in the mouth, but came back with a vengeance. Lauren Ross got an and-one in the post and then assisted a Taeya Steinauer three-pointer that hit nothing but the bottom of the net. Sydney Graber continued her dominance on the glass with 4 first quarter rebounds.
After the media timeout, the ‘Dons defense was incredible. “Creating chaos” would be an understatement. Multiple deflections, running shooters off the 3pt line, and eventually a charge taken by Emmerson. The patented dribble drive pull-up from Jordan Reid made it 14-5, and another driving layup by Audra Emmerson put the ‘Dons ahead by 11 to force a Raider timeout. Amaya Staton stopped the bleeding after the timeout with a post bucket but only to be responded by a Jordan Reid post bucket of her own. A rare bad pass turnover by the Mastodon offense gave the Raiders a chance to score with no shot clock. Amellia Bromenschenkel made sure that would not happen by rejecting the shot from Claire Henson.
Second Quarter: The start of the second had similar themes to the first. The Raiders found some early success from Staton down low, but the ‘Dons quickly ramped up their defensive intensity again courtesy of another Bromenschenkel block and another Emmerson drawn charge. The Mastodons then got the offense jumpstarted with a Bromenschenkel three and whistle for the heavy hitting 4-point play.
According to the Mastodon’s media team, this was the first 4-point play for the Mastodon’s women’s team since Bromenschenkel’s first full year playing with the ‘Dons four years ago. Just as the Mastodons were starting to get it going, Staton yet again finds another way to put a band-aid on the bullet hole with the hoop and harm down low. The foul was on Emmerson – trying to draw another charge.
Jordan Reid continued to have her way with the Raider defense as she gathered a pass from Renna Schwieterman and proceeded to dribble the ball 65 feet straight to the bucket for another score. A missed 3-pointer was then corralled by Reid and but up from underneath the rim. Somehow, she had the spin and angle to get the basket to fall.
The next trip down the floor saw a nasty step back from Lauren Ross freeze the defender for the basket. Her pinky toe was on the line, so only two points for Ross from this highlight reel. The Raiders had a chance to heave the ball from half-court to end the half, but Sydney Freeman’s on ball defense made this a challenge, and Freeman even got a piece of the ball on the shot attempt. The ‘Dons took a 33-19 lead into the locker room.
Third Quarter: The Raiders did not want a repeat of the last time these two met. Wright State’s Claire Henson came out swinging scoring 5 quick points in the first 45 seconds of the half. Lauren Ross responded like the scorer she is and nailed a triple for the ‘Dons, followed by a timeout by Coach Marchesano and the PFW coaching staff. The timeout saw a hockey line change for the Fort Wayne Kom.. uh, Mastodons. Graber, Reid, Taeya Steinauer, and redshirt Sophomore Ella Riggs all came on to the floor at 8:30 left in the quarter.
When asked about this line change after the game, Maria Marchesano said “We talked at halftime that our starters hadn’t been great, the bench was better in urgency and effort. We came out in the second half… and I wasn’t going to allow to let the game get out of hand when I knew our bench was playing better.”
And this is why Marchesano has the case for Horizon League Coach of the Year. Sydney Graber continued to show off Graber’s Glass Cleaning Service, LLC by dominating the boards on defense and offense. The 6-1 fifth year player totaled rebounds 8, 9, and 10 in the 3rd quarter all before the media timeout. Olivia Brown for Wright State did dip her hand into the cookie jar to take the ball away from Renna Schwieterman right under the hoop.
Brown turned and put the ball up and in to stop the Mastodon run. Brown then shared the love the next trip down the floor finding Amaya Staton down low for the easy bucket. The referees iced Amellia Bromenschenkel with a whistle as she had the ball and starting her free throw motion after making a bucket. The Mastodons outscored the Raiders by 7 in the 3rd and took a 55-34 lead into the final 10 minutes of the game.
Fourth Quarter: Coach Kari Hoffman’s Raiders still showed no quit coming out of the break. Wright State used an 8-2 run in the beginning of the quarter to give some much needed life to the team. This small burning flame was fully extinguished by a Sydney Graber and-one, assisted by Amellia Bromenschenkel. Graber would also score down low on the following possession for the ‘Dons.
Jordan Reid had to join the and-one party by taking yet another ball the length of the court right by her defenders, bumped in the air, and the ball kissed right off the window and into the basket. She would miss the free throw after the media timeout, but the offensive rebound was gathered by none other than Sydney Graber. Then Graber would go down the floor and play some incredible defense swatting the shot from Macie Taylor out of bounds. A basket by Graber and a steal by Freshman Reese Polega would be the score at 74-52, and this is where it would stay.
Stats and Leaders: The Mastodons were led in scoring by Lauren Ross with 20 PTS on a solid shooting night from the Graduate student (6-12 FG, 3-7 3PT, 5-5 FT). Ross was helped by some brilliance from Sydney Graber (15 PTS) and Jordan Reid (14 PTS). Graber was 6-8 FG and 1-1 FT in 21 minutes off the bench. Reid matched Graber’s energy with 6-8 FG and 2-3 FT in 24.5 minutes off the bench as well.
Graber and Reid were also rebounding machines for the ‘Dons. Graber set another career high in rebounds with 12 rebounds (4 OREB, 8 DREB) just two days after setting her previous career high with 10 rebounds against Oakland. Jordan Reid grabbed 6 boards as well. Renna Schwieterman and Amellia Bromenschenkel recorded 5 rebounds each. Ross had 4.
Graber and Reid battled to beat Audra Emmerson and Sydney Freeman’s +/- margin from their victory over Oakland. With Jordan Reid on the floor, the Mastodons were +29. Graber recorded a ridiculous +36 on the night. Graber has filled the big void left by Jazzlyn Linbo’s injury that has sidelined her since January 25. Graber gave credit to her team and Linbo’s advice on her impressive run in Mastodon Mania – “I’ve had some games where Jazz has been giving me some pointers, and that’s really helped me because she’s such a great player with so much experience.”
Graber became the first Mastodon to have back-to-back games of 10+ rebounds since the 2021-2022 season. Who did it then? None other than her former teammate, now coach – Shayla Sellers. Sellers recorded 11 rebounds on November 18, 2021 and followed it up with 10 on November 24, 2021.
The Raiders were led in scoring by the frequent double-double flyer Amaya Staton with 13 PTS. Claire Henson (11 PTS) and Makiya Miller (8 PTS) help Staton on offense. Florrie Cotterill chipped in 6 PTS off the bench. Not surprisingly, Staton notched her ninth double-double of the season with 11 rebounds (6 OREB, 5 DREB). Henson nearly matched Staton’s double-double effort with 9 rebounds (2 OREB, 7 DREB) of her own.
What’s Next: The Wright State Raiders will travel from the far east side of Indiana to the far east side of Ohio for their February 13 matchup against the Youngstown State Penguins. The Raiders took the earlier matchup against the Penguins in Dayton by a score of 77-62.
The Mastodons get one more game at home on this home stretch when Cleveland State comes to town next Saturday, February 15. The Vikings look to repay the ‘Dons after a 1-point game went to the Mastodons early in the season in Cleveland. The Mastodons will put their 17-game winning streak on the line at 2:00pm ET. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+.
