#HLWBB Power Rankings — Week 7

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

Purdue Fort Wayne had a quiet buildup to the holiday break, thumping NAIA opponent Aquinas on Friday, by a 104-31 score, to improve to 9-4 overall. That game probably isn’t worth a ton of additional detail, but Ella Riggs equaled the PFW program’s single-game field goal percentage record (minimum ten attempts) by going 10-for-11 from the floor, on the way to 24 points. Alana Nelson very nearly joined Riggs with a 9-for-10 effort (including six three-pointers), producing 26 points. Somewhat quietly – the level of competition being one reason for it – the Mastodons have pieced together a five-game winning streak and should have a reasonable chance to extend it when resuming their schedule.

It probably shouldn’t land as a total shock that Green Bay was thumped by Miami on Saturday, given that the RedHawks entered the contest with a 7-4 record and a respectable 120 NET ranking. That said, one of those four losses came against Oakland back on November 10th, so it’s not as if the Phoenix were staring down some untouchable juggernaut. What happened? Quite simply, Miami’s defense forced 23 turnovers, the most committed by a Green Bay team since November 26, 2021, against Oklahoma State (somehow, a win, incidentally). GB couldn’t shoot its way out of the issue either, as they were limited to just 33 percent from the floor. Jenna Guyer led the Phoenix with 12 points and five rebounds, including a pair of threes.

By beating College of Charleston at the Puerto Rico Clasico on Friday, Cleveland State landed its biggest victory of the non-conference schedule – and, really, all season, regardless of what eventually transpires in Horizon League play, given that the Cougars entered the day in the top 100 of the NET. The back-and-forth affair shifted in the Vikings’ favor during the final couple minutes thanks to five points by Izabella Zingaro, including a dagger three with 30 seconds remaining, as well as a coast-to-coast bucket by Jada Leonard. Two days later, CSU improved to 12-2 overall by blowing out the University of Puerto Rico at Bayamon, though the team left the island with a bit of bad news: an ankle injury to superstar point guard Colbi Maples that could potentially affect the Vikings’ fortunes moving forward.

Youngstown State split its games at the FIU Holiday Classic, first falling to the hosting Panthers on Friday, before bouncing back with a nice win against Massachusetts on Saturday to improve to 8-4 overall. How nice? UMass was 63rd in the NET entering the game, just four spots behind the Purdue team that Purdue Fort Wayne defeated earlier this season, and nine ahead of Kansas State, a Green Bay victim last month. So, by that measure, it was one of the best victories by any Horizon League team during the non-conference season. It was certainly a glimpse of the Penguins at their best, as Sarah Baker (17 points) and Sophia Gregory (14 rebounds, six assists, three steals) dominated the post, while Casey Santoro, Danielle Cameron, and Erica King did most of the work behind an 11-for-25 effort from three-point range.

In one of those games that will probably be forgotten by the end of the season but feels incredibly important in the moment, Robert Morris controlled Detroit Mercy 60-52 on Tuesday to improve to 2-0 in Horizon League play. The victory – at least for now – means that the Colonials have locked themselves into the top half of the conference, after UDM posed a credible challenge to that status. Eight different RMU players have led the team in scoring at least once this season, and against the Titans, Myriam Traore took her second turn with 13 points. Really though, the story of the evening was the Colonials’ defense, which held Detroit Mercy to 31 percent shooting and outrebounded the Titans 44-33. A romp over local Division II opponent Point Park rounded out Chandler McCabe’s pre-Christmas schedule.

It’s been an up-and-down couple of weeks for Detroit Mercy since upsetting Cleveland State on December 4th. First, the bad: the Titans looked pretty rough against RMU on Tuesday in what could have been a statement-type game, then headed to New Orleans for the Tulane Holiday Tournament and didn’t start on time against Mercer, costing what was a similarly-winnable affair. UDM did bounce back to throttle Delaware State in that MTE’s consolation matchup though, using a 24-4 second quarter to surge ahead, and maintaining enough padding to withstand a late Hornets rally. Aaliyah McQueen enjoyed her best game in quite a while against DSU, including 14 points, ten rebounds, and four steals. The former All-HL pick has taken something of a backseat to players like Makayla Jackson and Jasmine Edwards this year, but her re-emergence could be a positive sign.

Northern Kentucky experienced heartbreak on Sunday with a 62-61 home defeat to Bradley, after Maddie Moody, Abby Wolterman, and Taysha Rushton each missed a chance at making the NCAA Buzzer Beaters social account in the final ten seconds. Moody and Wolterman were otherwise outstanding, with 17 points and 11 rebounds, respectively, but the Norse will nevertheless have to settle for “almost” against a Braves team that beat DePaul and played Missouri tough earlier this year. NKU may remain the best “whatever their record is” team in the country (presently, 3-11), but those sorts of distinctions run out of gas pretty quickly. After Christmas, the Norse re-open the Horizon League schedule at Purdue Fort Wayne.

IU Indianapolis acquitted itself extremely well against Wisconsin on Sunday, hanging within ten for most of the contest, before ultimately falling by an 81-72 count. The Badgers have played no fewer than five HL teams this year and, for whatever it may be worth, the Jaguars’ minus-9 margin was the “second-best” defeat, only to Green Bay’s minus-4 (Oakland, Detroit Mercy, and Milwaukee were the other three teams, losing by 11, 18, and 29, respectively). So, perhaps, Indy should be a few spots higher in these rankings, if relying on the Wisconsin Barometer. Kamara Mills had something of a breakout game for the Jags with a career-high 21 points, while just about everyone did well in a mid-week romp over sister school IU Columbus.

On Tuesday at Youngstown State, Wright State showed signs of life by hanging with the favored Penguins through three quarters, thanks in part to some timely three-point shooting from the likes of Breezie Williams and Lauren Scott. It turned out to be unsustainable though (it’s pretty hard to win with 20 turnovers and 30 percent shooting), and the roof caved in on the Raiders during the last 13 minutes of the evening. Three days later, WSU traveled down to Lexington and took the expected thumping from No. 12 Kentucky, though Claire Henson had a relatively nice game with ten points and eight rebounds. However, the bad news gets even worse: Wright State returns from Christmas with games against Detroit Mercy, Green Bay, and Cleveland State.

Milwaukee’s only game of the week was a victory over Division III school Wisconsin Lutheran, a 76-52 result that was uncomfortably close in the second half. The Panthers led 45-41 with 1:36 left in the third quarter, but immediately went on a 21-4 run that lasted for nearly seven minutes to finally put the Warriors away. Nevertheless, the Panthers have now won twice in a row against lower-division teams, and preceded those contests with a pair of respectable efforts against Horizon League contenders Purdue Fort Wayne and Youngstown State. That might be enough to argue a solid upward trend. Grace Lomen was decidedly the star of the show for UWM against Wisconsin Lutheran, putting up 21 points and ten rebounds for her third career double-double (and her first at Milwaukee).

Oakland’s losing streak stretched to five games after eating the predicted blowout at Michigan on Sunday. Brooke Quarles-Daniels drew a starting assignment against her old team, and the former Horizon League Freshman of the Year fired home 11 points for the Wolverines. That probably didn’t really register with many at OU, given the program’s turnover over the last couple years, but Monday’s loss to Loyola Chicago will probably sting a little bit. In that game, Cali Denson misfired on a chance to tie the game at the free throw line with ten seconds left, then Makenzie Luehring missed a buzzer three that would have forced overtime. Angie Smith scored a career-high 18 points in a Friday loss to Illinois State.

Player of the Week

Jada Leonard (Cleveland State)

Leonard slipped into the Vikings’ point guard role relatively seamlessly after Colbi Maples’ injury against College of Charleston, delivering a pair of outstanding performances. That included 13 points and four assists in the mild upset over the Cougars, followed by 25 points, seven rebounds, six assists, and four steals against UPR-Bayamon.

Also considered: Myriam Traore (Robert Morris), Ella Riggs (Purdue Fort Wayne), Sarah Baker (Youngstown State), Sophia Gregory (Youngstown State), Grace Lomen (Milwaukee), Izabella Zingaro (Cleveland State)