Final scores
– Women’s game: Purdue Fort Wayne 74, Wright State 52
– Men’s game: Wright State 91, IU Indy 73
The Wright State Raiders basketball teams went 50/50 in a coast-to-coast doubleheader to end Indiana Week, with the women’s team losing on the road 74-52 against the Purdue-Fort Wayne Mastodons, while the men’s team got back on the winning edge with a 91-73 victory at home against the IU Indy Jaguars.
In Fort Wayne, Kari Hoffman’s Raiders (6-19, 4-11 Horizon) were unable to withstand the stampede of elephants that Maria Marchesano’s Mastodons team (20-5, 15-0 Horizon) kept bringing in throughout the afternoon in Purdue-Fort Wayne’s Free Mini Foam Finger Giveaway game. The game opened up being scoreless for the first two minutes until PFW’s Audra Emmenson drove to the bucket and scored to get the first points of the day, but Makiya Miller then scored the next five points for WSU courtesy of free throws and a three-pointer as the Raiders took a three-point lead at 5-2.
However, the Lady ‘Dons countered with 14 unanswered points to go up 16-5 and never trailed in the game again. The 14-0 run started with a three-point play from Lauren Ross, followed by a three-pointer from Taeya Steinauer, a layup from Sydney Graber, free throws and a layup from Jordan Reid, and another drive to the cup from Emmenson. Then, Amaya Staton scored four of the next six points on layups as the Mastodons led 18-9 after one.
Late in the second quarter, a free throw from Miller cut PFW’s lead down to nine at 26-17. But the Mastodons scored the next seven unanswered points with a three from Ross, a jumper from Reid, and a stepback shot from Ross to go up 33-17. However, Miller did score the last bucket of the quarter as the Raiders trailed 33-19 at recess.
That started a 7-0 run for the Lady Raiders with Henson kicking off the third stanza with a layup and a three to cut the lead back down to single digits at 33-24, but Ross hit another triple to make it 36-24 as PFW had the double-digit margin for the remainder of the afternoon. Olivia Brown made a layup to make it a 10-point deficit at 36-26, but Purdue-Fort Wayne put the cream cheese on the bagel with 15 unanswered points starting with free throws and another three from Ross, back-to-back buckets from Graber, another shot from Ross, a layup from Reid, and an offensive rebound putback from Amellia Bromenschenkel to make it their biggest lead of the day at 51-26. As a result, the Lady ‘Dons pretty much had this one in the bag.
Both teams shot poorly overall from the field, with Wright State making only 32.8 of their shots (22-of-67) and an abysmal 17.6 percent of their three-pointers (3-of-17), while Purdue-Fort Wayne did a little better as they made 47.6 percent of their buckets (30-of-63) and a poor 23.6 percent of their treys (5-of-21).
However, both squads were good at the charity stripe, with WSU at 83.3 percent (5-of-6) and PFW at 75 percent (9-of-12). Each team also grabbed 40 rebounds.
Staton led the Wright State women with 13 points, 11 rebounds, a block and a steal as she recorded her third straight double-double, her ninth of this season, and 16th of her NCAA career. 11 points and nine rebounds for Henson, eight points and three rebounds for Miller, and six points off the bench from Florrie Cotterill. The Lady Raiders are now 0-11 on the road this season.
Purdue Fort Wayne, who is the only undefeated team in Horizon League play (women and men), are now 15-0 at home and have also won their 17th straight game – which ties South Carolina for the third-longest active winning streak in the country. Ross led all scorers with 20 points, shot 3-of-7 from beyond the arc, and a perfect 5-for-5 from the foul line. Reid scored 14 points and grabbed six rebounds off the bench, while Emmerson and Bromenschenkel had eight points each. Bromenschenkel also had five rebounds and a pair of blocked shots.
But it was Graber who stole the show by coming off the bench to record her first-career double-double with career-highs of 15 points and 12 rebounds, plus a trio of blocks and a pair of steals.
Meanwhile back home, Clint Sargent’s Raider men (13-13, 7-8 Horizon) took care of business with the IU Indy Jaguars (8-18, 4-11) Horizon) in a much-needed 91-73 win on Homecoming Night.
IU Indy drew first blood with made free throws from Jarvis Walker, but Wright State scored the next nine points and never trailed in the game again from that point forward. It begun with a three-point shot from Solomon Callaghan, a free throw from Brandon Noel, a layup from Jack Doumbia, and another made triple from Callaghan. Later on in the game, the Raiders’ lead grew to 25 with 11 unanswered points from the end of the first half to the start of the second half courtesy of a three-ball from Logan Woods, a layup by Noel, a midrange shot from Keaton Norris, and another made free throw from Noel as WSU went 51-30 at halftime. That was followed up in the second half by back-to-back layups from Callaghan and Noel to go up 55-30 as the green and gold never backtracked for the rest of the night.
Noel recorded his eighth double-double of the season and his fourth one in WSU’s last five games as he led everyone with 26 points, 16 rebounds, a block, and a pair of steals (nine points and 10 rebounds in the first half). Norris’ hot shooting continued as he finished with a near triple-double courtesy of 17 points (6-of-7 FG), six rebounds and seven assists. 12 points each for Callaghan and Doumbia, nine points each for Woods and Alex Huibregtse, and six points and seven rebounds off the bench from Michael Imariagbe.
The Wright State men were outstanding shooting the ball on the evening as they connected on 63 percent on their shots (34-of-54), 60 percent of their three-pointers (9-of-15), and 77.8 percent of their free throws (14-of-18).
Paul Corsaro’s IU Indy team shot only 39.7 percent shooting from the field (23-of-58), 36.7 percent from beyond the arc (11-of-30), and 61.5 percent on free throws (16-of-26). The Jaguars were led by Sean Craig who had 26 points and hit 5-of-8 shots from beyond the arc. 22 points for Paul Zilinskas, five points and 12 rebounds for DeSean Goode, and six points and six assists for Alec Millender. As a team, IUI only committed turnovers as opposed to WSU with 10.
Wright State outrebounded IU Indy 36-27. Out of the Jaguars’ 27 boards, 12 of them came on the offensive glass.
Up next for Wright State:
– The women’s team will stay on the road and go back to the Buckeye State to face in-state rival Youngstown State on Thursday, February 13 for 6:30ET tip-off at the Beeghly Center.
– The men’s team will hit the road as well and spend the weekend in the Badger State of Wisconsin, starting with a Valentine’s Day battle with Milwaukee at UWM Panther Arena on Friday, February 14 at 8ET/7CT on their Homecoming Night.
