#HLWBB Power Rankings — Week 16

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

Green Bay dusted off its slump (or what qualifies as one for that program) definitively on Saturday, dusting rival Milwaukee 91-57 to finally claim the full share of the Horizon League regular season title that had been inevitable for quite some time. Jenna Guyer, for official purposes, led the way with 23 points and six rebounds, though, as the 34-point margin indicates, there wasn’t a shortage of quality stat lines on the Phoenix side of the box score. A couple more: Maddy Skorupski had a ten-point, 11-assist double-double (the latter number represents a new career high), while Carley Duffney went for 16 points and six boards. Perhaps the biggest challenge for Kayla Karius from this point is the fact that GB is unlikely to play another competitive game with actual stakes behind it until the HL semifinals on March 9th.

Though the 125-150 words devoted to these blurbs seem inadequate to describe what Youngstown State’s Sophia Gregory did on Saturday, maybe it can nevertheless be reduced to 11: the best game of the year by any Horizon League player. Gregory nearly singlehandedly demolished Purdue Fort Wayne on the road – no small ask – with 37 points (on an unreal 16-for-19 shooting effort) and 19 rebounds. Not only were each of those numbers the largest count by any HL player in a single game this season, both ranked in the top 50 among all 2025-26 player-games nationally. Gregory’s performance overshadowed what was a phenomenal week for the Penguins, including road wins against both the Mastodons and Northern Kentucky to officially clinch second place. Overall, YSU has won eight of nine, with the only defeat in that stretch to Green Bay.

After an inconsistent January that included everything from a shocking loss against Milwaukee to a once-in-a-generation snowstorm, Cleveland State appears to be peaking at the right time. The Vikings have won six of their last seven contests, with four of those victories coming against teams in the top six of the standings. The most recent, however, was outside of that group, a 74-45 drubbing of IU Indianapolis on Thursday. CSU began that evening with a 16-0 run and never looked back from there, highlighted by a defense that only surrendered 15 points to the Jaguars during the first half. Colbi Maples’ 18 points also had plenty to do with the outcome, as did Macey Fegan’s 12 tallies, with 11 rebounds and six assists. With tiebreaker edges over both Northern Kentucky (through a season sweep) and Purdue Fort Wayne (thanks to beating Green Bay on February 11th), Cleveland State likely only needs to win its last two games to finish third.

Northern Kentucky’s return to form (including, of course, their still-hard-to-believe Valentine’s Day Massacre of Green Bay in the Kress Center) came to a screeching halt with a 20-point home loss to Youngstown State on Thursday, despite Karina Bystry’s 18 points. The Norse, however, bounced back for a nice rivalry win over suddenly-hot Wright State on Saturday. Abby Wolterman lit up her senior day with 19 points and ten rebounds to lead the way, and she received plenty of support from Mya Meredith (15 points and three steals) and Jamaya Thomas (eight points and eight rebounds). At 11-7 in conference play, NKU is tied for third place with Cleveland State, though the Vikings own the tiebreaker between the teams thanks to a season sweep. However, a closing schedule of Oakland and Detroit Mercy gives Jeff Hans’ squad a decent chance to swoop into the position, should CSU stumble.

Rather abruptly, Purdue Fort Wayne is having a pretty rough go of things. Not terribly long ago, the Mastodons were 9-4 in conference play, and appeared to possibly have the inside edge on a runner-up finish to Green Bay. Since then, however, PFW has lost four of five, and has yet to beat a team other than Detroit Mercy during the month of February. Succumbing to Gregory’s superhuman work on Saturday is one thing, but dropping a home contest on Wednesday to an Oakland team that had fallen in five straight (wasting a nice game by Lili Krasovec) is a bit less forgivable. To make matters worse, the ‘Dons still need to navigate a visit from Green Bay, presenting the distinct possibility of an 11-9 finish, a tiebreaker loss to Robert Morris, and a road game in the Horizon League tournament.

Speaking of Robert Morris, the Colonials missed an opportunity to move cleanly into the top five of the standings on Saturday, when they suffered a 71-61 upset at Oakland despite Eva Levingston’s 21 points. All is not lost in Hoop Township, however. A closing win over Wright State would give RMU an 11-9 final conference record and, as mentioned, a favorable tiebreaker situation with a Purdue Fort Wayne squad that is currently one-half game ahead, but still has to deal with Green Bay. Regardless of how that all plays out, the Colonials will need to find some consistency if they are ultimately to see any success in the tournament – remarkably, Bobby Mo hasn’t had a winning or a losing streak longer than two games (if that even counts as a “streak”) while going 8-9 since a 9-2 start to the season.

Just one week after it looked as if they might be fading out of the season, Oakland thundered back with a pair of extremely impressive victories – at Purdue Fort Wayne, then against Robert Morris back in the O’rena – and suddenly looks like an extremely dangerous opponent for just about anyone in the HL ahead of tournament time. Perpetual triple-double threat Makenzie Luehring starred in both games, including 17 points, nine rebounds and nine assists to help stun the Mastodons, though Sereniti Roberts-Adams had a career-best effort with 16 points on 8-for-12 shooting, and OU’s defense limited PFW star Alana Nelson to just nine tallies, only the third time this year that an HL foe has kept her from double digits. Luehring went off for 31 points against the Colonials on Saturday, as the Grizzlies took over in the second half.

On Sunday, IU Indianapolis survived a spirited upset bid by Detroit Mercy thanks largely to Olivia Smith, who scored six straight points in the final minute of play to give the Jaguars the lead for good. In all, Smith bucketed a game-high 20, along with five rebounds, four assists, and four steals, and her work was supported by Sydney Bolden’s 15 scores, as well as Ariana Williams’ eight, with seven rebounds. A closer-than-expected afternoon at home against the last-place Titans might not strike most as incredibly inspiring, but any win helps wash away Thursday’s disaster at Cleveland State, when the Jaguars were more or less run off the floor from the opening tip in a 29-point loss. Kate Bruce’s squad closes the regular season with the dreaded Wisconsin trip, but the good news is that the Jags will finish either seventh or eighth, regardless of what happens in America’s dairyland.

A visit to Northern Kentucky on Saturday was enough to finally cool off Wright State a bit, but even counting that defeat, the Raiders have four wins in their last six tries, beginning with an upset of Purdue Fort Wayne on February 5th. More recently, WSU buried Milwaukee by 22 points on Wednesday to stay in the running for an eighth-place finish. While the likes of Breezie Williams (17 points against NKU) and Lauren Scott (five threes against the Panthers) continue to draw most of the outside attention, don’t underestimate the way Grace Okih and Maja Dilen have provided a credible inside presence for a team that desperately needed one in the absence of Chloe Chard Peloquin. With Wright State’s final two regular season games involving Cleveland State and Robert Morris, it’s going to be tough for Kari Hoffman’s squad to improve its playoff fortunes a ton, but they shouldn’t be counted out.

At this point, and despite a couple moments where it seemed like a push towards the middle of the standings could be in order, Milwaukee seems doomed to a lost season. As optically bad as getting caved in by an upstate rival may be, the clear hora veritatis for the Panthers actually occurred three days earlier, at Wright State. A win over the Raiders would have pulled the teams even in the standings, with UWM then owning a season sweep tiebreaker and the legitimate hope of not only escaping the HL tournament’s play-in game, but also climbing another rung or two. Despite the best efforts of Grace Lomen and Jorey Buwalda – players who have had all-conference level seasons despite their team’s record – Milwaukee fell by a 77-55 count, and appears destined to host Detroit Mercy in the play-in game, followed by a possible trip back to Green Bay.

Whatever can be said about Detroit Mercy at this juncture, it should include the fact that, even with a 5-22 overall record in a season that will almost certainly end pretty quickly once the Horizon League tournament starts, the Titans haven’t quit. That much was clear from Sunday’s near-upset at IU Indianapolis, led by Jasmine Edwards (12 points and ten rebounds), along with Addisen Mastriano (13 points and six rebounds, in just 19 minutes off the bench). Aaliyah McQueen’s and-one play gave UDM a 69-68 lead in the final minute of the back-and-forth affair, but the visitors couldn’t score again until Smith’s one-woman run had already put the Jaguars up by five in the final ten seconds. The Titans were also pretty competitive in their 66-55 loss to Robert Morris on Thursday, behind Edwards and Makayla Jackson, who combined for 24 points.

Player of the Week

Sophia Gregory (Youngstown State)

When someone accomplishes what Gregory did on Saturday, in terms of this honor, it doesn’t really matter how they spent the rest of the week. However, for the record, the sophomore also had a really nice game against Northern Kentucky on Thursday, including 17 rebounds and five assists. Gregory’s 36 total boards during the pair of wins made her the new conference leader in the category, with 9.1 per HL contest.