Fort Wayne, IN – The 8th seed Wright State Raiders (10-21, 7-13 Horizon League) looked to avenge a season sweep at the hand of the second-seeded Purdue Fort Wayne Mastodons (24-7, 18-2 Horizon League). The Raiders were coming off of a 15-point victory over Youngstown State in the 1st Round of the Horizon League tournament. The Mastodons earned the first round bye and home quarterfinal game. The Mastodons were able to do the hard task of beating the same team three times in the same season, this time by a score of 64-50.
First Quarter: The Mastodons under newly crowned Horizon League Coach of the Year, Maria Marchesano, would get the game started with scoring from two of their program cornerstones. Amellia Bromenschenkel would hit a three-pointer and Jazzlyn Linbo would hit both free throws. Wright State would get their first basket of the game from their double-double machine named Amaya Staton. The nation’s best three-point shooter, Lauren Ross (47.74%), would show that she can make it from the inside with a layup. This would be the last Mastodon basket for over 4 minutes.
In that time, the Raiders would score three times from the floor to take an 11-7 lead. Taeya Steinauer would stop the scoring drought for the Mastodons with a made three-point shot, but Macie Taylor would counter with a three-pointer of her own for WSU. The newly named Horizon League Sixth Player of the Year, Jordan Reid, would get on the board with her signature dribble drive pull-up shot. Wright State’s Makiya Miller would hit the fourth three-pointer for Raiders on the next possession. The Raiders would finish the first quarter 4-5 (80%) from behind the arc to take a 17-15 point lead into the break.
Second Quarter: Purdue Fort Wayne would knot it up at 17-17 by the ways of an Audra Emmerson layup from a nice pass by Linbo. The tie would not even last a possession as Claire Henson would make an elbow jumper to pull ahead by two again. Emmerson would retake the lead for the ‘Dons with a three-pointer once again assisted by Linbo. The Raiders would quickly get the lead back on two Staton baskets.
The Mastodons would retake the lead when Bromenschenkel hit a spinning jumper, and Sydney Graber would get an offensive rebound and layup after the media timeout. Henson would briefly regain the lead for Wright State with a layup of her own, but Graber would return the favor on the next possession to give the Mastodons a 26-25 lead with 3:45 remaining in the half.
Makiya Miller would tie the game again at 26 with a free throw, but Linbo would retake the lead on a shot down low. The two teams would trade leads once again with Staton hitting a top of the key three for the Raiders, but Bromenschenkel would respond with an identical shot on the other end to give the lead back to the Mastodons – this time for good. Bromenschenkel would tack on two more first half points with a midrange shot on the next possession, and then on the final possession of the half, Bromenschenkel would block a three-point shot from Ellie Magestro-Kennedy. The ball would find Staton near the basket, but she would miss the shot as the buzzer sounded. The Mastodons would take a 33-29 lead into the halftime break.
Third Quarter: The second half started with a layup from a cutting Linbo. Olivia Brown would break the Mastodon run with a mid-range dribble pull-up, but Bromenschenkel would start another run for the Mastodons with a right corner three-pointer. Emmerson would use a screen from Linbo, take a step to the right, and use a dribble between the legs for a step-back three-pointer that would hit nothing but net and force Wright State to call a timeout down 10.
A few possessions after the timeout, Ross would take a shot from the free throw line, but it would be blocked by Staton. With great vision and basketball IQ, Ross would jump up and punch the blocked shot out of the air straight into the hands of Sydney Graber who was sitting wide open underneath the hoop. Graber would spin and quickly put the ball in the hoop to beat the shot clock.
Both teams would trade baskets and free throws for the final 3:30 of the half to keep the score hovering around an 8-point lead for the Mastodons. The Mastodon defense would pick up for the final two minutes of the half and hold the Raiders scoreless for the remainder of the half.
Claire Henson would get the outlet pass out from Macie Taylor, and she would launch a half court shot that would nail the back iron and go in – unfortunately, she let it go a half second late, so the shot was waved off. The Mastodons would lead 48-39 in to the final 10 minutes of the game.
Fourth Quarter: Both teams were held scoreless for nearly two minutes to start the second half. Linbo would secure her fifth offensive rebound and make the putback shot. Staton would get two points on two free-throws to keep the deficit at nine. Ross would finally hit her first three-pointer of the night with 7:08 left in the game to increase the lead to 12 and force a Wright State timeout.
Out of the timeout, the Mastodons would come out in a suffocating full court press that would force Wright State to use their second timeout in just 8 seconds. Both Sydney’s (Graber and Freeman) would each add a layup to get the lead up to a game high 15 points. A Claire Henson three pointer would cut it back down to a dozen, and Lauren Scott would get it down to 10 with a layup. A series of three Taylor free throws would get it down to 8 points after Linbo would make a free throw of her own.
Bromenschenkel would score her 14th and 15th points of the game from the foul line to slow the Raider run. Ross would also score points 8-11 from the charity stripe as well for the final 4 points of the game. The Mastodons would hold the Raiders scoreless for the last 2:17 of the game en route to a 64-50 victory.
Stats and Leaders: Staton recorded her 10th straight double-double for Wright State, scoring a team-high 11 points and notched an impressive 15 rebounds (7 OREB, 8 DREB). Taylor was the only other Raider to score in double digits with 10. Staton also once again proved her spot on the Horizon League All-Defensive team with 3 blocks.
Bromenschenkel led all scorers with 15 points. Ross added 11 points and Linbo added 10 points. Linbo was one rebound short of a double-double with nine (2 OREB, 7 DREB). Sydney Graber added 6 rebounds, and Bromenschenkel recorded 5.
The Raiders won the rebound battle for the game 35-33. The Mastodons continued to outshoot their opponents. The Mastodons were 22-53 (41.5%) from the floor and 8-18 (44.4%) from beyond the arc. The Raiders were 17-56 (30.4%) from the floor and 6-21 (28.6%) from three.
The Mastodons defeated the Raiders all three times this season by an average margin of victory of 21 points.
The win for Purdue Fort Wayne now secures the winningest season in program history for the Mastodons in any division and conference. In a true righting of the ship of a program, the Mastodons have now won 70 games under Marchesano (4 seasons). The Mastodons only won 75 games from the 2011-2012 season until Marchesano’s hiring in 2021.
What’s Next: The Mastodons earn a spot in the Horizon League Semifinals for the third straight season setting up the rubber match against the Cleveland State Vikings. This will be the first time that the Mastodons and the Vikings will square off at the Corteva Coliseum as the last two seasons saw the Mastodons end their Horizon League campaigns with losses to Green Bay.
The Mastodons and the Vikings split the season series with each team winning on the road. The Mastodons took the game in Cleveland 78-75, but Cleveland State took the game in Fort Wayne by 9, 61-52.
The game against 3-seed Cleveland State is scheduled to start at 2:30 pm ET at the Corteva Coliseum on the Indiana State Fairgrounds in Indianapolis. The game will be broadcasted nationally on ESPN2.
