#HLWBB Power Rankings — Week 13

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

Talking about Green Bay in these power rankings has become a little bit like a sports media personality discussing their dinner, because really, how much is there to say about the same brick of ramen that they ate yesterday, last week, and last month? The Phoenix are now 13-0 in Horizon League play after a pretty comfortable 66-52 home victory over Wright State on Wednesday, behind a 20-10 double-double by conference player of the year candidate Jenna Guyer. Given that the two teams tied for second place are 9-4, and for the mathematically challenged, GB’s magic number to clinch the program’s 24th HL regular season title is now down to four. It won’t be an easy path there, however; after a pretty comfortable seven-game stretch, the Phoenix face consecutive road games against Robert Morris, Youngstown State, and Cleveland State.

Outside of Green Bay, there isn’t a team in the conference that hasn’t experienced both boom and bust during the league schedule. However, in the spirit of how power rankings are intended to function, Purdue Fort Wayne is deserving of the second spot right now, by virtue of the strongest recent boom period. The Mastodons have won four consecutive contests, including on Tuesday against Robert Morris, when a stellar fourth quarter separated a close game into a 60-46 PFW triumph. With Alana Nelson bogged down by foul trouble and Rylee Bess limited to three points, Lili Krasovec emerged with a monster effort: 24 points on 11-for-14 shooting, seven rebounds, and three blocked shots, to decisively win the matchup against the Colonials’ talented front line. Nelson and Bess returned to form in a blowout of Detroit Mercy on Sunday, combining for ten threes and 42 points.

After a pair of moderately-concerning losses a couple weeks ago, Youngstown State has bounced back nicely with a trio of consecutive victories, most recently including a sweep of the Detroit-area trip. Sniper Danielle Cameron established a new career high with 19 points on Thursday to fuel a 69-53 result against Detroit Mercy, including a 5-for-11 effort from three-point range. Two days later, the Penguins were pushed quite a bit by resurgent Oakland, and actually trailed by seven points at halftime, but dominated the later stages of what became a solid 72-60 road victory. YSU and Purdue Fort Wayne, it should be noted, have separated juuust a bit from the rest of the top-half pack, with matching 9-4 HL records. Robert Morris sits one game behind at 8-5, while Cleveland State and Northern Kentucky are each 7-6.

Cleveland State has been waiting all season for a big conference road win, and the Vikings finally grabbed one on Saturday with a 69-61 conquest at Northern Kentucky. Izabella Zingaro was nearly unstoppable, matching her career high with 25 points (including a one-woman 9-0 run in the fourth quarter), and establishing a new one with 15 rebounds. Just as encouraging as Zingaro’s play, however, was Colbi Maples, who has returned to her MVP-caliber form over the last week. She matched Zingaro’s total with 25 points against NKU, and offered 20 points and a season-high six assists to a mid-week home win over Milwaukee. The idea that Cleveland State got 50 of its 69 points on Saturday from two players, and scored exactly six bench points over the week’s two games, is a bit of a concern, but all in all, the CSU roller coaster is headed up once again.

It could probably be said that Robert Morris has just as strong of a resume as anyone in the conference, outside of Green Bay. Though the Colonials are a game behind Youngstown State and Purdue Fort Wayne in the standings, their season series with the Mastodons ended in a split after Tuesday’s loss in the Gates Sports Center, and RMU won in its only shot at the Penguins so far. So, pretty objectively, Chandler McCabe’s group is as deserving of being called the HL’s second-best team as anyone else. That status is thanks, in no small part, to Bailey Kuhns and Ava Leroux, both of whom were absolutely dominant in a clutch victory over IU Indianapolis on Sunday, the Colonials’ first ever in The Jungle. Leroux scored a career-high 21 points on 7-for-7 shooting (including three and-one plays), while Kuhns added 20 tallies.

Rather abruptly, following a seven-game winning streak that announced Northern Kentucky as a force within the top half of the standings, the Norse have now lost three straight, a skid that places that status in some jeopardy. Saturday’s home defeat against Cleveland State was particularly damaging, as NKU will now lose a head-to-head tiebreaker against the Vikings, a situation that could very realistically force Northern Kentucky on the road for the first round of the Horizon League tournament. Regardless, Mya Meredith was outstanding for the hosts, including 17 points (on 7-for-11 shooting) and three steals, offering the spark behind a third-quarter rally that nearly shifted the outcome. Given that the Norse’s Wisconsin trip is looming, Tuesday’s home game against Oakland feels like close to a must-win.

Oakland missed out on a major statement victory when it let a second-half lead against Youngstown State on Saturday slip away, but the Golden Grizzlies still had plenty to say three days earlier. That evening, OU logged a 64-61 home win over IU Indianapolis in a battle of rising teams that still have a realistic chance of a home game in the Horizon League tournament. With the result, Oakland took over seventh place in the standings and, conditional on a hot finish, is more than capable of finishing in the top five. Impressively, the Grizzlies have surged without Cali Denson, who hasn’t played since December 15th, though Makenzie Luehring has done plenty to pick up the slack. The freshman has scored 20 points in four of her last five games, including 24 to pace the effort against the Jaguars. She’s been efficient too, with an effective field goal rate of 50 percent or greater in each of those contests.

IU Indianapolis was a tough-luck loser over the last week, dropping a pair of wildly-entertaining games to quality Oakland and Robert Morris teams. Those results, despite proving that the Jaguars are, themselves, a quality team as well (albeit a very fast, very chaotic one), still had the effect of burying Kate Bruce’s squad a bit. The Jags are firmly in the back half of the standings, as close to last place as they are to fifth. Hailey Smith was electric on Sunday against the Colonials before fouling out late, including a team-high 17 points, while Sydney Bolden – a 17 percent three-point shooter entering the day – went 3-for-3 from deep, including a bomb that gave IU Indy its final lead of the afternoon. Similarly, a balanced effort produced a fourth-quarter edge against OU on Wednesday, before things slipped away.

Though Milwaukee was unable to follow up its early-January home upset of Cleveland State with a sequel in the Wolstein Center on Wednesday, the Panthers did manage to hold off Wright State on Saturday, after returning home. That result placed two full games of separation between UWM and the Raiders, an important gap, given that the Horizon League’s bottom two teams need to play an extra tournament game. Alternatively, a more optimistic outlook is that Jorey Buwalda’s 17 points and eight rebounds helped Milwaukee gain a bit of ground on IU Indianapolis, while keeping pace with Oakland, retaining the idea that the Panthers could still conceivably move up during the last month of the season. It won’t be easy though; four of UWM’s next five games are on the road, including against contenders Youngstown State, Robert Morris, and Green Bay.

Wright State had the unenviable task of the Wisconsin road trip over the past weekend, resulting in a pair of defeats – the Raiders’ 11th and 12th in their last 13 tries or, if backing things out a bit further, their 14th and 15th in their last 17 outings. Yikes. Saturday’s loss at Milwaukee was excruciating both as a missed opportunity for the Raiders to crawl over the Panthers, and into ninth place, and also for the fact that a Breezie Williams three gave WSU a 67-64 lead midway through the fourth quarter. From there, however, UWM scored the game’s next seven points to regain control into the final minute of play. Williams only ended up with nine points that day, but the Raiders shot 12-for-32 from deep behind Rylee Sagester, Ellie Magestro-Kennedy, and Makenzie Drout. Of course, offense has never really been Wright State’s issue, a defense that ranks among the nation’s bottom 30 teams in several metrics is the primary culprit for the Raiders’ record.

It’s getting tough to see an outcome to the regular season where Detroit Mercy doesn’t end up in the HL tournament’s 10 vs. 11 first-round game at this stage, with the winner’s “prize” involving a trip to Green Bay. That unenviable position only became more likely over the last week, as the Titans ate decisive losses against Youngstown State and Purdue Fort Wayne to extend their losing streak to 11, and drop to 2-11 in conference play. If there is one bit of good news out of Calihan Hall these days, it’s that Northern Kentucky transfer Kailee Davis is starting to find her form. After missing all of 2024-25 and the first six weeks of this season, the Detroit native and former all-conference pick saw drastically-expanded minutes and production over the past week. The result was 27 combined points against two of the Horizon League’s best teams, offering at least some hope of a late turnaround.

Player of the Week

Colbi Maples (Cleveland State)

This week’s award could probably be called a three-way race between Maples, Purdue Fort Wayne’s Lili Krasovec, and Oakland’s Makenzie Luehring, but the CSU guard’s team results (two wins against a slightly tougher schedule than what Krasovec faced) are a suitable-enough tiebreaker.

Also considered: The two players I just mentioned

---

Enjoyed this article? Help keep HoriZone Roundtable going.

👉 Donate here: https://horizoneroundtable.com/donate

👉 Join us on Patreon: https://patreon.com/horizoneroundtable