#HLWBB Power Rankings — Week 11

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

Green Bay is officially halfway to a perfect conference season, as the Phoenix improved to 10-0 in Horizon League play – beating each HL opponent once – while holding off archrival Milwaukee by a 76-61 count on Saturday. Point guard Kamy Peppler scored her 1,000th career point in the victory, though it was the GB bigs like Meghan Schultz and Jenna Guyer who led the way with a combined 35 points and 21 rebounds. With Schultz and Guyer again dominating, the Phoenix logged a fairly comfortable, wire-to-wire 69-57 win over Purdue Fort Wayne on Wednesday, in a rematch of last season’s de facto conference regular season championship game. It’s not entirely fair to say that Green Bay has been completely untouchable; the Phoenix nearly lost at home to Cleveland State, and have looked mortal on other occasions. Still, it’s pretty tough to see where they might lose this year.

Northern Kentucky absolutely bodied rival Wright State in the second half on Saturday to win a seventh straight game, by an 82-56 count. The contest was actually on upset watch in the first half, if you can believe that – in fact, WSU led 28-17 midway through the second quarter – before a black and gold avalanche in the third and fourth quarters buried any notion of an eyebrow-raising outcome. Taysha Rushton’s 400th career three-pointer was among her game highs of 17 points and six assists, though Karina Bystry, Abby Wolterman, Maddie Moody, and Mia Jordan also landed in double figures (additionally, Moody pulled in 13 of NKU’s 40 rebounds). On Wednesday against Milwaukee, the Norse endured a tough game in all four quarters, though Bystry’s sixth 20-plus point game of the season was enough to see out a 63-55 result.

Saying that Cleveland State is “back” is probably a bit premature, though the Vikings have recovered from their post-Christmas doldrums with a modest three-game winning streak. The most impressive of the bunch, by far, was Sunday’s 68-61 victory over Robert Morris. CSU found its usual outlets for success taken away by either foul trouble or ineffectiveness early on, and had to rely on Laurel Rockwood (14 points, six rebounds) to keep things stable until big second halves by Colbi Maples, Jada Leonard, and the Vikings’ defense helped secure the outcome. Macey Fegan logged 15 points, ten rebounds, and four assists to key a midweek victory over Detroit Mercy. With road games at Purdue Fort Wayne and Youngstown State on tap over the next seven days, CSU’s claim to third place in this post will certainly be tested.

It’s probably fair to say that Youngstown State looked as wobbly over the past week as they have all season. The Penguins trailed downtrodden Wright State by 14 points in the third quarter on Wednesday and needed to rally from there, before ultimately dominating an overtime period to secure victory. The comeback was possible thanks to the best game of Sarah Baker’s young career, as the redshirt freshman bucketed 25 points on 11-for-16 shooting, while hauling down 11 rebounds. Casey Santoro added 18 tallies, largely on a spotless 9-for-9 from the free throw line, part of YSU’s crucial 18-for-21 team-wide effort. However, on Saturday, the Penguins laid an egg at home against IU Indianapolis, for their first truly bad loss of the conference season. Danielle Cameron went 5-for-7 from three in that one, though Melissa Jackson’s squad was uncharacteristically out-rebounded and out-assisted.

Robert Morris remains one of the hardest teams to predict in the conference. The past week was pretty solid evidence of that, as the Colonials were unexpectedly taken to overtime at home by IU Indianapolis on Wednesday, before escaping with a victory, then followed up that effort with a game at Cleveland State on Sunday that was attainable with a handful of plays going the other way. Of course, Myriam Traore hasn’t been hard to predict at all, as the Frenchwoman has quickly turned into one of the Horizon League’s better players. The Siena transfer is second only to Aislin Malcolm among the team’s scoring leaders, and she reinforced that status with 22 points against the Jaguars, followed by 18 against the Vikings. Ava Leroux, who had 14 points and six rebounds in just 14 minutes versus IU Indy, has offered important depth in the middle.

There’s not really a ton to report on Purdue Fort Wayne this time around, given that the Mastodons only played one game over the past week, their disappointing loss at Green Bay. It’s a little bit hard to fathom, given how good PFW has been over the last few seasons (and the schedule hasn’t offered a ton of relief either) but the ‘Dons have now lost three in a row and four of their last six, though they remain right in the thick of the pack of contenders chasing Green Bay. Her ten points against the Phoenix were a modest total for a team leader, but freshman Rylee Bess has proven one of the Horizon League’s best rookies. The sharpshooter is averaging 8.8 points per game, much of that coming through her 43.3 percent accuracy from three-point range, a number that undoubtedly makes assistant coach Lauren Ross proud.

For IU Indianapolis, Saturday’s shocker in the Beeghly Center was a healthy dose of validation. After all, the Jaguars have been far more competitive than their record, though the time to prove that sentiment was slowly running thin. Not to worry though; Olivia Smith’s 17 points on 5-for-7 shooting led the way for Kate Bruce’s squad, while Ariana Williams also had an outstanding game with ten points, eight rebounds, and two steals. That last statistic was part of a team-wide count of 11 thefts, as the Jags scored 12 fast break points, and 18 points off of turnovers, while also outdueling the Penguins’ formidable front line in the paint, 24-16. IU Indy actually almost pulled off their signature upset two days earlier, as Smith’s 19 points helped force an unexpected overtime at Robert Morris.

If not for IU Indy pulling off arguably the biggest upset of the conference season not involving Cleveland State, Oakland would likely be sitting atop the group of five teams with losing HL records. Of course, the Golden Grizzlies also have a contender in that category with their defeat of Robert Morris on December 29th…then again, they’ve quietly crept up the standings, to the point where they’re only 1.5 games behind the Colonials, so maybe it wasn’t actually that big of an upset. Regardless, OU logged its second consecutive win on Sunday in Calihan Hall, by separating a bit from MetroSeries rival Detroit Mercy in the second half for an 80-70 result. Makenzie Luehring led the way for OU with 25 points on 8-for-14 shooting, a new career high for the stellar freshman. Layla Gold (13 points, ten rebounds) and Filippa Goula (12 points, six rebounds, five assists) contributed plenty as well.

Given that IU Indy finally flipped their long string of close calls into a big win, it’s entirely possible that Milwaukee might be the next team up in that regard. The Panthers played tough games against two of the Horizon League’s best teams, Northern Kentucky and Green Bay, over the last week, but ultimately fell to 2-7 in conference play with a pair of defeats. One encouraging sign for Kyle Rechlicz is the way that her young guards have started to come into their own. On Saturday, freshman Madison Fitzgibbon scored 19 points and added three assists, helping the Panthers hang within a point of their league-leading I-43 rivals, before the Phoenix pulled away a bit in the fourth quarter. Tierney Madigan, another rookie, has also enjoyed several signature moments.

It’s probably not much consolation that Wright State gave scorching-hot Northern Kentucky a credible ballgame for 20 minutes, given that the Raiders went on to lose by 26. It was WSU’s fourth defeat in a row, and a 12th in their last 14 tries. However, there were still positives from Kari Hoffman’s crew, as Breezie Williams scored her 1,000th career point against the Norse, part of a very solid 14-point, seven-rebound, four-assist effort. On Wednesday, the Raiders very nearly shocked Youngstown State, only succumbing in overtime after blowing a large second-half lead, and despite the heroics of Ellie Magestro-Kennedy, who scored a team-best 17 points (including a three to force the extra period). With upcoming home games against Robert Morris and Purdue Fort Wayne sandwiching the Wisconsin trip, it’s certainly not about to get any easier for the Raiders.

After dropping their clash with Oakland on Sunday, Detroit Mercy is now just 4-14 overall, a staggering fall for a team that was generally viewed as a veteran group that could emerge as a darkhorse contender ahead of the season. Diagnosing the difference between expectation and reality is difficult, though Aaliyah McQueen’s on-and-off availability (and inconsistency when playing) has certainly been a part of it. Regardless, very little of it lies at the feet of Makayla Jackson, who has been one of the HL’s underrated players this season, and Myonna Hooper was outstanding over the past week, including 22 points against OU and 15 on Wednesday at Cleveland State. The Titans are still just 1.5 games behind their seventh-place rivals; the idea of a home game in the conference tournament is probably unrealistic, though a late push could very easily salvage a manageable seed.

Player of the Week

Myriam Traore (Robert Morris)

In a week without a clear-cut frontrunner, Traore offers perhaps the best and most efficient production against quality competition of the several candidates. Despite her team’s loss on Sunday at Cleveland State, she was a dynamic three-level scorer who connected on eight of her 14 shot attempts. She was even better in the Colonials’ overtime victory against IU Indy on Thursday, scoring her 22 points on 8-for-12 shooting.

Also considered: Karina Bystry (Northern Kentucky), Jenna Guyer (Green Bay), Olivia Smith (IU Indianapolis), Makenzie Luehring (Oakland)