#HLWBB Power Rankings — Week 5

Rank	Team	Last	Change
1	Green Bay	2	+1
2	Youngstown State	3	+1
3	Purdue Fort Wayne	4	+1
4	Cleveland State	1	-3
5	Robert Morris	5	–
6	Northern Kentucky	6	–
7	Detroit Mercy	10	+3
8	IU Indianapolis	7	-1
9	Wright State	8	-1
10	Oakland	9	-1
11	Milwaukee	11	–

Though Green Bay was pushed at times last week, the Phoenix ultimately took nice-looking wins over Northern Kentucky and Youngstown State (two squads that stand a pretty fair chance of finishing in the top half of the standings) to begin Horizon League play 2-0. The 70-60 result over the Norse on Thursday was a bit deceptive, as GB led by 18 entering the fourth quarter, only to give up eight of those points after a futile NKU rally. Meghan Schultz and Jenna Guyer led four Phoenix players in double figures with 13 points each, before Schultz took over on Sunday against YSU with 22 points and eight rebounds, while also shutting down the Penguins’ potent inside game.

It’s awfully hard to fault Youngstown State for their nine-point loss at the Kress Center on Sunday, since that’s about as well as any visiting team ever does there. The Penguins actually did get off to a strong start in that game, leading by four after the first quarter, then still hanging within three at the half, thanks to some productive shooting from the likes of Casey Santoro, Erica King, and Hayden Barrier. The news was a bit better for the first leg of their dreaded Wisconsin trip, as Santoro scored her 1000th career point in a mostly-routine 68-56 victory over Milwaukee on Friday. Essentially, a developing YSU squad took on the toughest road test the HL has to offer during the first week of conference play, and made it out in one piece.

Purdue Fort Wayne got off to an unsurprising 2-0 start in the Horizon League by besting IU Indianapolis and Wright State, behind a pair of monstrous games from Alana Nelson. Against the Jaguars, Nelson scored six of her 23 points during a 10-0 third-quarter run to help put away a tougher-than-expected rivalry contest. She then followed up with a season-high 26 tallies in a never-in-doubt 68-52 effort against WSU. Though the Spring Arbor transfer is a worthy headliner, perhaps one underrated piece of the Mastodons’ 6-4 overall record has been Lili Krasovec. The 6-3 Hungarian had 15 points and nine rebounds against the Raiders, and has scored at least 12 times in six of PFW’s ten contests.

Which team is the real Cleveland State? Is it the one that looked like just about every other Vikings team in recent years during a comfortable victory at Oakland on Saturday? Or is it the one that couldn’t even slow down, let alone stop, Detroit Mercy in an ugly HL-opening loss on Thursday? That sort of inconsistency is the expectation with a largely-new roster still trying to find a comfort level with a complex system, but with the non-conference season winding down, the Vikings are getting short on runway. Though Colbi Maples had an off day offensively at OU, Macey Fegan, Jada Leonard, and Izabella Zingaro were all fantastic, with Fegan enjoying a career-best effort that included 18 points, 11 rebounds, and three steals.

Robert Morris had an interesting week, as the Colonials survived late scares from Mercyhurst and Northern Kentucky – self-inflicted scares, at least in part – to improve to 6-2 overall and 1-0 in conference play. RMU’s conference opener against the Norse on Sunday was a particularly-violent seesaw. After a dominating, yet somehow also tenuous, first half, the Colonials coughed up a double-digit lead in the third quarter. Then, behind Aislin Malcolm (ten points in the fourth quarter, 13 overall), RMU pushed back to an eight-point edge with just over two minutes remaining, but still had to survive one more rally and earn a last second stop. Myriam Traore (17 points) was also outstanding against the Norse, while Layke Fields scored 24 times against Mercyhurst.

Northern Kentucky began conference play 0-2 (and fell to 3-8 overall) with their losses to Robert Morris and Green Bay, but the Norse continue to be among the best bad-record teams in the country (a thing I just made up). There’s admittedly not a ton of benefit to being in that position, though it does bode well for NKU’s future that they managed to give a relatively sturdy fight to the top two teams in the Horizon League’s preseason poll. Another positive sign: it doesn’t truly feel like the Norse have fired on all cylinders yet. Sunday’s last-second defeat against RMU was a decent example, as Jeff Hans’ squad limited the Colonials to 37 percent shooting and 60 points, but couldn’t get the usual production from star freshman Karina Bystry, who was held to five points.

If this list was presented more as a week-to-week heat check, and not based largely on an overall body of work, Detroit Mercy would be a runaway number one. The Titans – without Aaliyah McQueen – pulled off the biggest upset in a Horizon League game so far, by taking down Cleveland State in Calihan Hall on Thursday. UDM basically scored at will against the Vikings, led by a breakout game from sophomore center Addisen Mastriano (18 points on 8-for-10 shooting). Collectively, the Titans shot 59 percent from the floor for the game, and while that number dropped back to a normal 44 percent on Sunday in McQueen’s return, Detroit Mercy was still able to hold off a strong IU Indianapolis squad behind Makayla Jackson and Jasmine Edwards (16 points each).

IU Indianapolis pulled a tough assignment last week, but managed to play well in losses to a very good Purdue Fort Wayne team, and a resurgent Detroit Mercy. That Titans matchup on Sunday was particularly frustrating. The Jaguars rallied to take the lead late in the third quarter, behind Neveah Foster’s eight points in the frame, and seemed to have UDM on the ropes a bit. They then scored all of two points during the subsequent five-minute stretch, allowing the home team to get back on the front foot. Indy remains an incredibly difficult read, because they’ve built a long string of extremely-respectable losses, including Ball State and Northwestern prior to their first two HL contests. Those games, at the very least, should prove to be valuable experience down the road.

Wright State came back to beat Oakland in its HL opener on Wednesday, behind human utility knife Claire Henson’s 17 points and ten rebounds. If nothing else, that victory places the Raiders well ahead of last season, when they began 0-6 in the conference as part of a ten-game overall skid. The rough beginning condemned Kari Hoffman and company to the bottom of the standings, despite going 6-7 after the streak ended. So how far ahead, exactly? It’s tough to say for certain. Sunday did little to help that assessment, as Wright State struggled to 52 points at Purdue Fort Wayne, and headliners Henson, Breezie Williams, and Lauren Scott combined to shoot just 10-for-36.

It was a bit of a tough week for Oakland, which dropped its first two Horizon League games. The conference home opener against an angry Cleveland State team wasn’t a terribly surprising loss, but the Golden Grizzlies probably regret what happened on Wednesday at Wright State. OU led for most of that evening, including by eight early in the fourth quarter, but then gave up a 10-0 run spanning nearly six minutes. Even after that, Oakland led 56-55 in the final 90 seconds, but turned the ball over on consecutive possessions, helping WSU clinch the result. The Grizzlies, with Cali Denson, Layla Gold, and even Lianna Baxter at times, are a very good shooting team. That, along with some strong ball pressure, will be enough to ruin someone’s day at some point this year.

Milwaukee might want to switch up whatever it is doing in the first quarter. Against Youngstown State on Friday, the Panthers scored just four points in the opening frame – all on free throws, as they went 0-for-13 from the floor. The resulting ten-point deficit essentially stuck around for the rest of the evening, as it was an even game after that. Though not quite as dramatic, the trend also includes UWM’s visit to Pacific for a Thanksgiving MTE, including losses to the hosts (minus-16 in the first quarter, minus-29 for the game) and UC Davis (minus-15 in the first quarter, minus-9 for the game). On a positive note, freshman Tierney Madigan might be the next big thing for Milwaukee. Her playing time has continued to grow early in the season, paying off with 17 points against YSU.

Player of the Week

Meghan Schultz (Green Bay)

Though the likes of Alana Nelson, Myriam Traore, and others have outstanding cases, sometimes it’s best to avoid overthinking it. The league’s best team right now has a player who delivered big games in a pair of quality wins, and that should be good enough for a weekly award.

Also considered: Alana Nelson (Purdue Fort Wayne), Myriam Traore (Robert Morris), Tierney Madigan (Milwaukee), Macey Fegan (Cleveland State), Casey Santoro (Youngstown State), Addisen Mastriano (Detroit Mercy)