| Rank | Team | LW | Change |
| 1 | Green Bay | 2 | +1 |
| 2 | Purdue Fort Wayne | 1 | -1 |
| 3 | Cleveland State | 3 | – |
| 4 | Robert Morris | 5 | +1 |
| 5 | Northern Kentucky | 4 | -1 |
| 6 | IU Indianapolis | 6 | – |
| 7 | Detroit Mercy | 8 | +1 |
| 8 | Milwaukee | 9 | +1 |
| 9 | Wright State | 11 | +2 |
| 10 | Youngstown State | 10 | – |
| 11 | Oakland | 7 | -4 |
Now that Purdue Fort Wayne’s winning streak is over (see below), Green Bay has taken over as the school with the Horizon League’s longest unbeaten run: 16 games, including decisive wins at Oakland and Detroit Mercy this past week. The contest against the Golden Grizzlies was a rare breed of annihilation, given that the Phoenix led 61-21 at the end of the third quarter (read that again) before coasting to a 75-39 final score. Cassie Schiltz went 5-for-7 from three-point range to lead the way offensively against OU, though the headline to the game (other than the ridiculous score itself) was the fact that GB didn’t allow the Grizzlies a single double-digit scorer; the home side’s top point-getter was reserve forward Kylie Buckley, who scored eight in garbage time. Two days later, Detroit Mercy managed to pull within six midway through the third quarter, but an immediate 18-0 run and Natalie McNeal’s game-high 23 points abruptly ended the upset bid.
Though Cleveland State snapped Purdue Fort Wayne’s school-record 17-game winning streak on Saturday, the Mastodons can take solace in the fact that their position within the Horizon League hasn’t really changed all that significantly. Lauren Ross and company still control their own destiny, and can win a first-ever conference title (literally, the school has never won one in any league, at any level) by starting a new four-game streak to end the regular season. That, however, will be easier said than done, given that the Dons close with Northern Kentucky, Detroit Mercy, Milwaukee, and Green Bay (with only the Titans game at home). One thing that will help a bit: Jazzlyn Linbo made her return against the Vikings, after a three-week absence. Sydney Graber and others have done an admirable job filling in for the starting post player, so Maria Marchesano certainly has some improved depth on her hands.
Cleveland State is the third school in what people – including the league office – have taken to calling the Big Three, though it would be hard to blame anyone for questioning the Vikings’ place in that group a little bit, at least on the results. After all, CSU lost its first two games of the season against the other members of the triumvirate, and remains the only Big Three school to lose a conference game to teams outside of that upper crust. That has happened twice, most recently on Wednesday at Northern Kentucky when the Norse hit 16 of their 31 three-point attempts. However, Mickayla Perdue’s 22 points and lockdown defense helped the Vikings re-establish their contender bona fides on Saturday by toppling league-leading Purdue Fort Wayne 61-52, a game that ended on an 11-0 CSU run over the final 4:27. Things don’t get any easier with Green Bay in town on Wednesday, but win or lose, Cleveland State again looks capable of the HL tournament title.
As much as we’ve discussed the spots after third place being an indistinguishable mess, here’s something worth pointing out: since January 8th, Robert Morris is 7-4 in conference games, and their only defeats have been against that aforementioned top three. So, if you’re looking for a potential fourth-place pick, why not a team that isn’t losing to anyone below third place right now? This past week, the Colonials kept that run going with home victories against IU Indianapolis and Northern Kentucky. The latter game, on Sunday against the Norse, was particularly impressive, given that NKU had carved out a pretty solid claim to fourth place in its own right. Instead, Isys Grady scored 15 points to lead RMU, including a three-pointer that beat the halftime buzzer and gave her team the lead at the break, as well as a couple late free throws to lock down the win. The Colonials also got Danielle Vuletich back from injury this week, and she should prove important to the stretch run.
Just when Northern Kentucky seemed to have the inside track towards the conference’s fourth seed, the Norse stumbled on Sunday at Robert Morris. The three-point barrage that had enabled an upset of Cleveland State on Wednesday deserted Kalissa Lacy, Jaci Jones, and Abby Wolterman in Hoop Township, as NKU was just 4-for-23 from range and struggled offensively for long stretches of the contest. That certainly wasn’t the case against the Vikings though, a game where Northern Kentucky looked like a team with elite balance that can win through multiple avenues, including an outside game (obviously), as well as inside through Halle Idowu and Mya Meredith, and with a defense that held always-potent CSU to just 11 points in the fourth quarter. It’s nothing new for a team in its first season with a new coach to run a little bit hot and cold – even late in the year – but either way, NKU remains a potential wrench in the championship plans of the league favorites.
There isn’t a player in the Horizon League scoring the basketball better than IU Indianapolis’ Katie Davidson right now. The 5-10 senior has posted 24 or more points in five of her last seven games, and 28 or more in three of her last four outings. She had 29 (with nine rebounds) on 9-for-17 shooting on Saturday at Youngstown State, and also played a role in one of the season’s most memorable finishes. The Penguins led 57-51 with 32 seconds to go, before Nevaeh Foster hit a three out of a Jaguars timeout. YSU’s Malia Magestro answered with two free throws, but Davidson’s lone triple of the game then shaved the deficit to 59-57. Next, Jewel Watkins split a pair of free throws, leaving an opening for Foster to drain a heavily-contested, falling-over 30-footer at the buzzer to force overtime. The eventual victory was the Jags’ sixth in conference play, moving them into position to host a first-round league tournament game.
Detroit Mercy was 10-2 overall and 4-0 in the Horizon League after beating IU Indianapolis on New Year’s Day, with the Titans’ only losses to that point coming against Michigan and Michigan State. Since then, UDM is 3-9 both in the conference and overall, so it has certainly been a tale of two dozens for Kate Achter’s crew. It says a lot about how good the Titans were early in the season that despite their slide, they are just one-half game behind Robert Morris for fourth place. Detroit Mercy’s closing games are Youngstown State, Purdue Fort Wayne, Northern Kentucky, and IU Indianapolis, and a 3-1 mark might be enough for a home-court quarterfinal, but it will require a team that hasn’t shown itself for over a month. UDM gritted out a pre-shot clock style 50-46 victory over Milwaukee on Thursday, limiting the Panthers to just 27.8 percent accuracy from the floor.
Don’t look now, but Milwaukee has been playing some pretty decent ball lately, despite remaining last place in the standings. The Panthers are 3-3 over the last three weeks, with their most recent efforts involving a split of a weekend in the Detroit area and just 99 points allowed across two games. The victory was an impressive 61-49 result over Oakland on Saturday, an afternoon where UWM was never seriously threatened after the first quarter. The Panthers managed to hold the always-dangerous duo of Maddy Skorupski and Macy Smith to a manageable 29 points – while, obviously, limiting the rest of the OU roster to 20. Despite losing against Detroit Mercy two days earlier, Kyle Rechlicz’s defense was also strong in that outing, throttling Aaliyah McQueen and Emaia O’Brien to the tune of 17 combined tallies. On the other end of the floor, freshman Kallie Peppler (starting point guard Kamy’s sister) knocked down a couple of threes and matched the best total of her young career with 12 points in the Oakland game.
Wright State has quietly moved into contention for a first-round home game in the HL tournament, something that seemed extremely unlikely six weeks ago, when the Raiders were still in the middle of a ten-game losing streak. It’s not that they’ve been phenomenal since then, but WSU has managed to piece together a few head-turning wins, including Detroit Mercy and Northern Kentucky in the relatively recent past, followed by their overtime victory at the Beeghly Center on Thursday. Amaya Staton has continued to be a force of nature for the Raiders – she has ten double-doubles this season, including five in her last six games, and her 23-16 line against YSU set a new season high for points, while equaling her best rebounding number. If the Raiders could find a spell of the outside shooting that they’ve generally enjoyed in recent years, they might truly be on to something, but only Rylee Sagester and Claire Henson (who doesn’t take a ton of outside shots) have knocked down threes with any consistency.
Youngstown State has shown moments of promise at different points throughout the season, but the losses have definitely begun to stack up for the Penguins, as they’ve now dropped 13 of their last 16 games, including overtime home matches against Wright State and IU Indianapolis this past week. Before succumbing to the Jaguars’ late three-pointers to force the extra period (it should be said that YSU actually defended the three pretty well in that game, as IU Indy was 7-for-25 from deep overall), the Guins had the last possession of regulation against the Raiders, but could only manage a desperation miss by Magestro despite a full 30 seconds on the clock when they started. In overtime, YSU’s attempt to extend the game failed when Watkins’ runner at the buzzer missed. On a positive note, Sophia Gregory seems to be the clear frontrunner for the HL’s Freshman of the Year award at this point, particularly after her third career double-double in the IU Indy game.
After an encouraging start to things under acting head coach Deanna Richard, including an upset of Cleveland State in early January, Oakland has fully hit the skids with losses in ten of its last 12 games. It’s gotten particularly ugly of late, as the Golden Grizzlies had to play Purdue Fort Wayne, a rematch with the Vikings, and Green Bay in consecutive games, none of which were even a little bit competitive (the average margin of those contests was 28.7 points, in fact). That could possibly be written off as a strength of schedule issue, but the inconvenient counterpoint is that OU followed that stretch up with a double-digit home loss to last-place Milwaukee on Saturday. Generally speaking, I try to be as positive as I can in these write-ups, but the simple fact is that the Grizzlies haven’t done enough since Jeff Tungate’s abrupt retirement back in December to avoid an offseason overhaul. Nevertheless, Skorupski and Smith have enough talent to ruin someone’s March.
Player of the Week
Mickayla Perdue (Cleveland State)
Perdue separated herself by taking over during the decisive moments of the conference’s biggest game of the week. In CSU’s win at Purdue Fort Wayne on Saturday that snapped the Mastodons’ 17-game winning streak, she kick-started the game-winning run with consecutive buckets, four of her game-high 22 points, followed by an assist and a forced turnover. Though the Vikings’ mid-week loss at Northern Kentucky was decidedly less memorable, she nevertheless scored 20 points in that outing as well.
Also considered: Amaya Staton (Wright State), Natalie McNeal (Green Bay), Kalissa Lacy (Northern Kentucky), Katie Davidson (IU Indianapolis)
Past winners:
February 9: Katie Davidson (IU Indianapolis)
February 2: Jordan Reid (Purdue Fort Wayne)
January 26: Raissa Nsabua (Robert Morris)
January 19: Mickayla Perdue (Cleveland State)
January 12: Natalie McNeal (Green Bay)
January 5: Sydney Freeman (Purdue Fort Wayne)
December 29: Maddy Skorupski (Oakland)
December 22: Aaliyah McQueen (Detroit Mercy)
December 15: Jordana Reisma (Cleveland State)
December 8: Lauren Ross (Purdue Fort Wayne)
December 1: Halle Idowu (Northern Kentucky)
November 24: Lauren Ross (Purdue Fort Wayne)
