The Wright State Raiders women’s basketball team (7-19, 5-11 Horizon) went on the road to the Beeghly Center on Thursday night and won 78-76 in overtime over their in-state rivals, the Youngstown State Penguins (9-16, 4-11 Horizon).
It’s WSU’s first road win since March 2, 2024 and also the first time they’ve had a season sweep of Youngstown State since 2021.
The green and gold kicked off the night on a 5-0 run within the first 1:57 of the contest thanks to a three-pointer from Makiya Miller and a turnaround jumper in the paint from Claire Henson. With the Raiders up 10-2, Chloe Chard Peloquin scored four of the next five points with a layup and free throws before Sophia Gregory and Macie Taylor traded layups to make it 14-5 with 4:37 left. With 3:05 to go in the opening period, a little scuffle happened as Miller missed a shot and got tied up with YSU’s Bella Samz, forcing a stoppage in play. Referees Aaron Brooks, Lauren Niemiera, and Jesse Dickerson looked at the monitor and ruled it as a common foul on Miller.
As a result, Miller got subbed out with two fouls and didn’t come back in the game until 4:16 remaining in the second period. Following the first quarter media timeout, the Penguins scored six unanswered points courtesy of back-to-back three-point plays from Jewel Watkins and Malia Magestro, but Staton answered right back at them by scoring six of the last eight points of the quarter as WSU had the 20-13 lead after one.
After Abbie Riddle opened the second period with a three, YSU scored eight unanswered points with field goals from Watkins and Magestro, followed by back-to-back buckets from Faith Burch to make it a 23-21 deficit. Following a Henson free throw, Gregory and Chard Peloquin exchanged layups before Watkins hit a three-ball to tie up the score at 26 with 4:36 remaining.
YSU then took their first lead of the night with an Erica King midrange jumper, but WSU answered with seven unanswered points and took a 33-28 lead starting when Lauren Scott knotted the game up at 28 with a turnaround shot before made free throws by Staton and a three-point play made it a five-point game. After a shot from Magestro, WSU went on another 7-0 run with a three from Scott, a layup from Henson, and another three from Rylee Sagester. Then, Haley Thierry traded layups with Staton to end the first half as the Lady Raiders were up 43-32 at halftime.
The Penguins outscored the Raiders 18-13 in the third, holding WSU to shooting 28.6 percent from the floor. Youngstown State kicked off the third stanza scoring eight of the first 13 points to cut the Raiders’ lead down to five at 45-40 with a free throw by Magestro, back-to-back layups from Burch, and a three-point play from Thierry. The game stayed close as Thierry ended the period with another layup with four seconds left as Wright State had the 56-50 advantage going into regulation.
Both teams begun the fourth period trading layups in the paint starting with Gregory, then Henson, and Magestro to make it 58-57 WSU. It was 60-57 with seven minutes left in the final quarter following made foul shots from Staton, but the Penguins waddled back into it and took the lead at 63-60 with six unanswered points courtesy of a shot by Burch, followed by made free throws from King and Watkins. Staton then took matters into her own hands by giving her team the lead back at 64-63 with free throws and a layup of her own before Bella Samz tied it back up at 64 all with a free throw, but Staton and Watkins then traded layups to make it 66 all with 53 seconds left to go. Malia Magestro had a chance to win the game for Youngstown State, but she missed a corner three which sent the game into overtime.
The extra five-minute session begun with Burch and Taylor trading one free throw apiece before a layup from Gregory put YSU ahead 70-69, but a three-pointer from Scott and free throws from Miller gave WSU the three-point lead at 72-69. Watkins put up a hook shot, but Staton drew a foul on Samz and hit a pair of foul shots to regaining the three-point lead at 74-71. After a Burch layup, Taylor drove to the bucket for a layup, followed by a Scott free throw, which gave the Raiders a 77-73 lead with 14 seconds left. Magestro hit a late three before Miller made one of two at the line, but Watkins missed a game-tying layup over Staton to end the night.
Wright State shot 37.9 percent from the field (25-of-66), an abysmal 24.7 percent from downtown (7-of-24), and 70 percent from the foul line (21-of-30). Staton led everyone with 23 points and matched her career-high of 16 rebounds while going 9-of-10 from the foul. 13 points off the bench for Scott; 10 off the bench for Taylor; and Henson finished with a near triple-double of nine points, nine rebounds and six assists.
Youngstown State shot 47.6 percent overall (30-of-63), 33.3 percent from three-land (4-of-12), and 63.2 percent at the charity stripe (12-of-19). Watkins led the Penguins with 22 points (8-of-21 FG), 17 points and eight rebounds for Burch, 16 points for Magestro, and eight points and 11 rebounds for Sophia Gregory.
Note: At Merrimack, Staton had seven double-doubles in the last two seasons. On Thursday with Wright State, that was her 10th one this season alone.
Up next: Wright State will return home for their annual Pink Game and host the Oakland Golden Grizzlies on Wednesday, February 19 for a 7ET tip-off.
