#HLWBB Power Rankings — Week 15

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

Green Bay clinching sole possession of the Horizon League regular season title remains inevitable, and the Phoenix already have claimed the top seed in the HL tournament, thanks to a season sweep of Youngstown State, the only team that can mathematically match GB’s conference record. However, the odds of Kayla Karius’ team living up to that top seed and claiming the playoff crown look pretty shaky at the moment, even if they remain better than what any of the Phoenix’s competitors can claim. After an overtime loss at Cleveland State on Wednesday, followed by an 18-point battering by Northern Kentucky at the Kress Center – the fourth-worst home defeat in the life of that arena – Green Bay has now lost consecutive regular season HL games for the first time since the 2021-22 season. Put those results together with close calls against Robert Morris and YSU two weeks ago, and the race for March glory might be as open as it has been in quite some time.

With a gritty 69-65 triumph at IU Indianapolis on Sunday, Youngstown State has continued to play well enough to hold off the Penguins’ second-place challengers, a run of success that now includes six wins in the last seven games. Casey Santoro and Erica King led YSU’s scoring efforts against the Jaguars with 17 and 15 points, respectively, but the star of the game might have been Paulina Hernandez. In the last half of the fourth quarter alone, the junior had seven points, three rebounds, and a blocked shot (of her 12, seven, and five total), helping the Guins finish the afternoon on a 12-2 run. Of course, that was only the second-most-fascinating ending Youngstown State enjoyed during the week, given Sophia Gregory’s heart-stopping alley-oop finish of a Danielle Cameron lob to force a stunning (and, ultimately, successful) overtime against Robert Morris, with just 0.4 seconds remaining in regulation on Wednesday.

Though it ended up a bit overshadowed by what took place three days later, it shouldn’t be forgotten that Cleveland State was the first Horizon League team to dent Green Bay this season, through an 83-82 overtime win in the Wolstein Center on Wednesday behind Izabella Zingaro, Colbi Maples, and Macey Fegan, who combined for 70 points. That result spoiled GB’s 15-0 conference record, and also ended the Phoenix’s 36-game winning streak against HL competition. CSU avoided a hangover with a tough win at Robert Morris on Saturday, a result clinched by Maples’ spectacular shot-clock-beating jumper over Myriam Traore with 17 seconds to go. The Vikings are playing their best basketball of the season right now, and own head-to-head advantages on both Northern Kentucky and Robert Morris, as well as a secondary tiebreaker over Purdue Fort Wayne.

There are lots of ways to quantify what Northern Kentucky accomplished on Saturday at Green Bay in an effort to explain the outcome’s historical value, but let’s just cut to the chase: it was likely the most significant victory in NKU’s Division I history, and the clearest signal yet that Jeff Hans’ program is on the way up. Taysha Rushton scored 21 points, while Karina Bystry added 16, as the visitors shot 44 percent (six ticks above their season average), outrebounded the Phoenix 42-33, and took immaculate care of the ball, with just seven turnovers. After sweeping the Wisconsin trip – oh yeah, Northern Kentucky also beat Milwaukee on Thursday – the Norse are now also the team with the cleanest path to tossing Youngstown State aside and claiming second place. A lot of that status is thanks to a head-to-head matchup with the Penguins on Thursday, and a manageable final three games.

After eating consecutive losses to Wright State and Cleveland State, Purdue Fort Wayne got back on track by battering Detroit Mercy on Saturday to keep pace with the likes of the Vikings, NKU, and YSU. It was a well-rounded effort from the Mastodons that showed glimpses of their best: Rylee Bess knocked down three of her six three-point attempts, Lili Krasovec picked up a double-double with 15 points and ten rebounds, Lauren Lee fired off seven assists, Alana Nelson dropped in her routine 16 points, and Jordan Reid led PFW with 20 tallies. Rather unsurprisingly, given all of that, the ‘Dons led 31-11 by the first couple minutes of the second quarter, and had things in cruise control for most of the second half. The challenge from here (or perhaps, it’s an opportunity) will be maintaining standings position through a closing schedule that includes both Youngstown State and Green Bay.

With five teams battling for the four Horizon League tournament first-round home games after Green Bay, there was always going to be an odd team out, and it’s starting to appear as if Robert Morris might end up losing that game of musical chairs, thanks to dropping four of its last six games. Of course, it’s hard to be too critical of the Colonials, as the four defeats were to Purdue Fort Wayne, Green Bay, Youngstown State, and Cleveland State, and the latter three involved unbelievable, game-altering moments from three of the HL’s best players (the first two of which made the SportsCenter Top 10). Myriam Traore was incredible in defeat against both YSU and CSU, with 37 combined points. The good news is that RMU closes with three of the bottom four teams in the standings, but the Colonials will still need someone else to stumble.

IU Indianapolis is probably doomed to finish in the second half of the standings at this stage, but has nevertheless become a team that none of the HL favorites want anything to do with come tournament time; the Jaguars boast wins over Youngstown State, Cleveland State, and Northern Kentucky this year, and have played Robert Morris and Purdue Fort Wayne tough in defeat. However, the Jaguars were unable to complete a season sweep against YSU on Sunday, dropping a fantastic back-and-forth contest by a 69-65 count. Neveah Foster scored 20 points, while Destini Craig added 13 with ten rebounds for Indy, which led by six with six minutes remaining, then managed only a pair of free throws the rest of the way. That result snapped the Jags’ modest three-game winning streak, which included a tougher-than-expected victory over Oakland on Wednesday, one where the Jags limited OU to just three fourth quarter points.

Don’t look now, but there might not be a team in the conference playing better ball – relative to expectations, anyway – than Wright State. Somewhat out of nowhere, the Raiders have won three of their last four games, including a stunning upset of Purdue Fort Wayne on February 5th. More recently, Kari Hoffman’s charges swept their annual trip through Detroit Mercy and Oakland, an outcome that wasn’t entirely surprising, though 17 and 18-point victories were probably a couple standard deviations above most predictions. Ellie Magestro-Kennedy knocked down five three-pointers against the Titans in support of Claire Henson’s 18 points, while Breezie Williams was back in form against OU with 24 points (on 10-for-13 shooting) and seven rebounds. What’s perhaps been as impressive as anything else: perpetually-undersized WSU, the worst rebounding team in the conference, has outworked its opponent on the glass in each of its recent wins.

After a productive January that included four wins in five tries at one point, Oakland now appears to be a team out of gas. The Golden Grizzlies’ current losing streak extended to five over the past week, thanks to defeats at IU Indianapolis, followed by that surprising minus-18 performance against Wright State at the O’rena. The latter result was particularly damaging, as it gave the Raiders a sweep of the series between the teams and pushed OU down to ninth place – only about three weeks after a win over IU Indy that made it seem as if the Grizzlies had a reasonable shot of finishing as high as fifth or sixth. Despite the downturn of her team’s fortunes, Makenzie Luehring continues to be one of the leading contenders for the Horizon League’s Freshman of the Year award. The rookie scored 14 of OU’s 44 points against WSU, following a 15-point night against the Jaguars.

It might not be much of an exaggeration to say that Milwaukee’s most significant game of 2025-26 is coming up on Wednesday, when the Panthers travel to Wright State. At the moment, UWM is in tenth place, one game behind both the Raiders and Oakland. However, OU swept Milwaukee this year, making the Golden Grizzlies an unlikely target for elevation. On the flip side, a win over WSU would deliver that season series to the Panthers, offering Kyle Rechlicz and company at least some hope of escaping the Horizon League tournament’s play-in game. Even absent those stakes, any victory at all would be welcome for a team that has now dropped eight of its last ten contests, including a solid effort against Northern Kentucky on Wednesday behind 15 Payton Rechlicz points, and the standard 12 and seven rebounds by Jorey Buwalda.

Detroit Mercy offered fans the brief hope of a late-season push behind a finally-healthy Kailee Davis, including a road win against their suburban archrivals on February 7th. However, the hard reality of a future that probably includes the HL tournament’s play-in game (as of right now, UDM would travel to Milwaukee for that tilt) re-emerged after home losses to Wright State and Purdue Fort Wayne over the last week. Davis was held off the scoreboard altogether by the Mastodons, though Makayla Jackson did her best to compensate with 22 points on 10-for-16 shooting. Jasmine Edwards led the way against WSU with a monstrous outing, including 22 points and 14 rebounds. Despite the Titans’ struggles, both Jackson and Edwards have put together campaigns worthy of all-conference consideration, awards that would at least bring something positive to the end of a tough year.

Player of the Week

Colbi Maples (Cleveland State)

All in all, it was a pretty soft seven days for serious award candidates, but Maples’ accomplishments (leading a season-defining victory, then closing out a second win with a signature play, while scoring her 1,000th point with the Vikings) would hold up in just about any week.