It would have been explainable if Oakland didn’t come to play at Purdue Fort Wayne. One league player of the year contender did not make the trip with the team, and another spent the previous few days dealing with the flu.
However, down Isaac Garrett and with a sick Brody Robinson, Oakland beat Purdue Fort Wayne 74-65.
“You know what I’m really proud of?” Greg Kampe asked Oakland radio voice Neal Ruhl postgame. “Look at the score. At our place each team was around 100 in our first game. We just gutted this thing out.”
Oakland used seven players in the game, and all seven contributed at least four points.
That quality depth was displayed particularly in the first half, where Khoi Thurmon scored eight points before halftime. This was the first game Thurmon played at Purdue Fort Wayne since transferring from there two seasons ago. He was greatly needed on a night where Robinson was not a full go.
The other piece of the bench, Warren Marshall IV, was everywhere. He scored four points and showed off his defensive abilities all game. Marshall IV grabbed six rebounds and led the team with three blocks in 19 minutes. Marshall IV was even utilized in the hoop position that Oakland’s zone has.
Marshall IV was just one Golden Grizzly who put together a solid defensive game. Oakland’s defense held Purdue Fort Wayne to 27 second half points.
“They only shot seven free throws,” Kampe said. “That’s what this zone does. This isn’t an exact number, but in our 12 conference games we have made 50 or so more free throws than our opponents have taken.”
Michael Houge led Oakland in scoring with 15 and also pulled down 11 rebounds. Without Garrett, Houge was able to man the glass while staying out of foul trouble in 36 minutes.
Buru Naivalurua, Brody Robinson and Brett White II all had 13 points while showcasing other skills. Naivalurua was everywhere defensively with two blocks and two steals, and Robinson fought through his illness and managed four assists. White II logged his first Oakland double double with 11 rebounds.
Not to be forgotten is Ziare Wells, who scored eight points and had a couple of highlight blocks.
“We just made big plays,” Kampe said. “Buru made two huge plays down the stretch, Z had an unbelievable put-back to kind of seal the deal. Brett had 11 rebounds on basically one leg and Brody just gutted it out for us.”
The win means the Golden Grizzlies swept the season series with Purdue Fort Wayne, giving a cushion over the team who is in third place. At 13-10 overall and 9-3 in the league, Oakland is tied in the games back column with Wright State, who is 8-2.
Oakland now returns home to face Northern Kentucky. The Norse are 6-5 in the league, and Oakland has a win in Kentucky already. The first game did not have a score difference of more than six points the entire 40 minutes.
Sunday’s tipoff is slated for 3 p.m. Eastern Time on ESPN+.
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A three-game homestand inside the UPMC Events Center began for the Robert Morris men’s basketball team as it hosted both of the Horizon League’s Wisconsin opponents and a rematch with Indiana University Indianapolis.
Ryan Prather Jr. put together his fourth straight 20-point game in a win over the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee on Jan. 22. The redshirt junior led all players with 23 points and went 5-for-6 at the free-throw line.
Multiple first-half scoring runs and a double-digit lead late in the contest helped the Colonials secure an 88-76 victory over the Panthers and improved their Horizon League record to 5-5.
Down by one point three minutes into the first half, control at both ends of the floor sparked an 11-2 run for the Colonials.
Prather Jr. collected his first defensive rebound of the game as RMU took possession into the forecourt. Josh Hill was able to drain a three-pointer off an assist by Kaleb Brown.
On the next possession, Brown collected another defensive rebound for the Colonials, which led to Brown knocking down a three-pointer of his own.
The Panthers got on the board with a jumper, but in response RMU knocked down their third straight make from beyond the arc. This time, the three was good from Albert Vargas on a pass from Brown.
Desean Goode recorded a career-high four assists on the day and tallied his first on a Nikolaos Chitikoudis jumper that grew the Colonials’ lead to nine points.
RMU maintained the lead until under 10 minutes remained in the half, when the Panthers took a two-point lead, and on their next possession, a four-point advantage.
The Colonials responded and began a 12-0 run with 2:55 before halftime and gained their first double-digit lead at 43-33. Milwaukee ended the stanza with a layup that cut the lead down to eight points.
The Panthers never got within one possession of the Colonials in the second half. RMU led by 15 on two separate occasions.
Two days later, RMU welcomed the University of Wisconsin–Green Bay at home. The Colonials outscored the Phoenix in the second half but still fell in the contest, 71-67.
Goode recorded his eighth double-double of the season with 17 points and 12 rebounds.
The Colonials went on a 5-0 run to open the first half, but Green Bay cut the deficit and took the lead with a 14-0 run. Chitikoudis put an end to the run with a layup at the 13:09 mark.
RMU was down by as much as 11 points in the half and entered halftime down by seven points.
An 8-0 run by the Colonials to open the second half put them in the lead momentarily before Green Bay regained the advantage with a 12-0 run.
The run was capped off with a three-pointer that stretched Green Bay’s lead back to 11 points. Goode’s three-pointer with nine seconds left put the Colonials within one possession for the final time, but a turnover and fouls put Green Bay at the charity stripe to close out the game.
After the overtime loss to IU Indy earlier in the season, RMU evened the series with a 74-58 win on Jan. 28.
Prather Jr. led the game with 20 points and went 4-for-5 from three-point range and 4-for-4 from the foul line.
The first half featured 10 lead changes, and neither side’s lead grew to more than four points. RMU entered halftime with a 36-33 advantage.
Brown’s layup and another Goode three-pointer to start the second half gave RMU an eight-point lead. The Jaguars responded and cut the margin to within one possession.
With 8:11 remaining, RMU put together 18 points and allowed IU Indy to score just seven until the final whistle. Three of Prather Jr.’s five three-pointers came over that stretch.
Prather Jr. knocked down back-to-back threes to end the game and fed off of his teammate’s ball movement to have production on the offensive end.
“When I saw a few go in, I had a good rhythm going. So once I had a good rhythm going, my teammates found me and they helped me hit some shots with the passes they gave me,” Prather Jr. said.
Now with a 6-6 record in conference play, the Colonials will close out the month on Jan. 31 with a game at Purdue University Fort Wayne. Tipoff is set for 1 p.m., and the game will be streamed on ESPN+.
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In a defensive battle that came down to execution late, the Oakland Golden Grizzlies women’s basketball team won a 64-61 nailbiter against the IU Indianapolis Jaguars from inside the OU Credit Union O’Rena on Wednesday.
The win brings Oakland’s record to 8-13 on the season, and 5-6 in Horizon League play. Looking at the conference standings, this was a crucial win for the Golden Grizzlies, who now directly jump the Jaguars in the standings for the seventh-place spot.
Makenzie Luehring led the Golden Grizzlies in scoring, finishing with 24 points, five rebounds and three assists. Angie Smith had a quietly solid game for Oakland as well, consistently making it to the free-throw line as she finished with 16 points and six rebounds.
“I’m so glad she’s seeing the fruit of her labor because she puts in a lot of work,” Oakland head coach Keisha Newell said about Luehring. “Her teammates want the ball in her hands, and I’m just glad she’s being more aggressive.”
For IU Indianapolis, Ariana Williams led the team in scoring off the bench with 12 points and was a threat defensively, finishing with two blocks and two steals. Hailey Smith was another effective Jaguar off the bench, putting up nine points and a team-high eight rebounds.
Sydney Bolden got things started for the Jaguars in this matchup, finding herself wide-open for three near the top of the key. Luehring responded on Oakland’s next possession, however, battling her way into the paint for a tough layup.
The rest of the first quarter was a half-court chess match, as both teams struggled to get consistent open looks, especially the Jaguars, who finished the quarter shooting a dreadful 26.3% (5-for-19) from the field. By the end of the quarter, both teams were tied, 15-15.
In the second quarter, much of the same remained from the first, as the Golden Grizzlies and the Jaguars refused to give up any easy baskets. The first bucket of the quarter came nearly three minutes in, as Williams converted an and-one make to put IU Indianapolis ahead.
Despite what was a slow quarter offensively for both teams, the Jaguars showed some spark near the end of the quarter, going on a short 5-0 run to give themselves their largest lead of the night at 29-24.
Moments later, Lianna Baxter put an end to the Jaguars run with a layup on Oakland’s final offensive possession of the quarter. Heading into the break, IU Indianapolis led the Golden Grizzlies, 29-26.
At the half, the tough defense seen throughout the game translated well in the box score, as the Golden Grizzlies shot just 37.5% (9-for-24) from the field, while the Jaguars shot 32.4% (11-for-34). From deep, Oakland shot at a 25% (2-for-8) rate, and IU Indianapolis made 23.5% (4-for-17) of their attempts from beyond the arc.
Defense was still the name of the game throughout the third quarter. Filippa Goula provided some offense with a layup early in the quarter, and Luehring kept the Golden Grizzlies afloat from the charity stripe, tying the game at 33 points apiece.
Although Oakland showed fight by tying the game up, IU Indianapolis’ Olivia Smith scored two tough layups on consecutive possessions to keep the Jaguars ahead towards the end of the quarter. Heading into the fourth quarter, IU Indianapolis still led, 41-39.
Come the fourth quarter, both teams finally started to find their rhythm on offense as Layla Gold and Goula both knocked down long three-pointers early in the quarter. Through the first three minutes of the fourth, Oakland already matched the amount of points the team put up in the entire previous quarter.
Following a technical foul committed by Kamara Mills, the Golden Grizzlies’ offense continued to roll, as Oakland took its first lead of the quarter. Following the technical foul, Oakland’s lead started to blossom thanks to multiple layups from Luehring.
With the fourth quarter coming down to the wire, and the Golden Grizzlies ahead by multiple possessions, the Jaguars were forced to foul down the stretch. With a chance to put the game away at the charity stripe, Oakland did just that, coming away on top 64-61, making the Golden Grizzlies 4-1 in their last five games.
Up next, the Golden Grizzlies will remain at home to take on the Youngstown State Penguins on Saturday, January 31. With a tip-off scheduled for 2 p.m. EST, the Penguins will prove to be a tough test for Oakland, as Youngstown State is ranked third in the Horizon League standings.
Takeaways
The Golden Grizzlies got off to a rough start in this one, but they really cleaned things up as this game went on, resulting in one of the team’s biggest wins of the season.
Many of Oakland’s early struggles in this game came from IU Indianapolis’s relentless ability to attack the boards, especially in the first quarter. The Golden Grizzlies were outrebounded 14-8 by the end of the first, with many of those extra Jaguar rebounds coming on the offensive glass.
As the game progressed, however, Oakland’s rebounding improved, especially when Sereneti Roberts-Adams was substituted in the game. IU Indianapolis struggled to keep her off the offensive glass, as Roberts-Adams finished with three offensive rebounds in just six minutes.
“That was no adjustment other than me screaming at halftime,” Newell said. “When it comes down to rebounding, it’s not about size, it’s just about heart, and they (IU Indianapolis) had it in the first half, and thankfully, we matched it, and I think surpassed theirs in the second half.”
Not only did the Golden Grizzlies improve on their rebounding throughout this matchup, but the team also showed they have an extra gear in the motor.
Oakland played just seven of their players in this matchup compared to IU Indianapolis, who played ten. Four different Golden Grizzlies played more than 30 minutes, while the Jaguars had just one player cross that mark.
With those facts, you’d think Oakland would be extremely tired in the fourth quarter, and a fresher IU Indianapolis squad would take advantage and come away with the win. Yet, the opposite happened.
“We ran a little bit more. They were fatigued, so we wanted to push in transition, but we could only do that with stops,” Newell said regarding the fourth quarter.
The Golden Grizzlies looked like the more energized team in the final quarter. Nine of Oakland’s 16 fastbreak points came in the fourth quarter, and the Golden Grizzlies outscored the Jaguars 16-6 in fastbreak points.
Oakland’s ability to respond in this matchup was the overall difference maker. If the Golden Grizzlies can continue to show that high motor throughout the rest of the season, they may have found the formula to further ascend the Horizon League standings.
On Wednesday night at the Wolstein Center, Cleveland State used a pair of first-half runs to down Milwaukee 66-46 and improve to 16-7 overall (6-6 in the Horizon League).
Here are five things that stood out from a vital result:
1. Chris Kielsmeier’s message to the Vikings ahead of the victory was simple: “Be the person, be the player you can be, so we can be the team that we can be.”
It seemed to resonate, as CSU was at its defend-rebound-run best – a level only seen fleetingly this season against quality competition – for long spans of the first 20 minutes, enough so to make for a pretty comfortable evening.
Milwaukee held an early 5-3 edge thanks to a Grace Lomen three, but Cleveland State went on a 16-0 run from there, and subsequently, would never lead by fewer than nine points.
It was a classic Vikings surge in a lot of ways. The home team forced six Panthers turnovers in the opening quarter, and were always a threat to take things vertical, whether through one of those takeaways or after a rebound of one of UWM’s eight field goal misses. A pair of early Sarah Hurley threes offered an important counterpoint, but mostly, the points came through CSU getting down the middle of the floor with pace.
The process essentially repeated itself with a 16-2 run during the back half of the second quarter that allowed the Vikings to take a 36-13 advantage into the break. The second burst was a bit more three-heavy, with Hurley, Colbi Maples, and Jada Leonard each connecting from deep, but the encouraging patterns were still intact.
“That was as clean of a game as we’ve played in quite some time,” Kielsmeier said.
2. Of course, Cleveland State being the team that it can be isn’t possible without Maples.
The 2023-24 Horizon League Player of the Year has had an eventful few months after missing nearly all of last year with a torn ACL. Her 29-point effort against Chicago State back on November 3rd remained the best scoring total by any HL player this season until recently, and her 6-for-10 line from three-point range was essential to the Vikings’ near-upset at Northwestern later that month.
Even through all of that, it seemed obvious that her game had shifted a bit, to being far less reliant on her trademark dribble drives, and Kielsmeier frequently said that her post-injury defense was still a work in progress. An ankle sprain against College of Charleston on December 19th knocked Maples out for a couple more games, and after returning, she entered a slump that saw her shoot just 18-for-88 (20.5 percent) over seven contests.
That seemed to come to an emphatic end on Wednesday.
After an early miss, Maples went on to key CSU’s 16-0 first quarter run with six of the Vikings’ final ten points, all coming on drives to the basket or free throws resulting from them. She then launched the 16-2 run to close the half with a three-pointer out of a timeout, later adding another two points, along with assists on buckets by Izabella Zingaro and Macey Fegan.
“Me personally, the player I am, when I’m at my best, I don’t care [about missing shots],” Maples said. “When I miss shots, I’m always…if it is open, I’m shooting. And so when I got away from that, that’s when I was like, yeah, something’s not right. In this game after I missed [the first shot] I didn’t care.”
Her final line included 20 points on 7-for-15 shooting, along with six helpers, her best total of the season.
“She ran the game tonight,” Kielsmeier said. “I was able to see some things that I wanted, and communicate those things to her, and her basketball mind and IQ just took over. She’ll get a lot of credit for the 20 points, which we certainly needed from her, but she made some big-time plays, and that’s Colbi affecting the game in a variety of ways without scoring. Not every player has that ability. She does.”
Perhaps just as importantly as any of that, her confidence seems to be fully back online, after some admitted moments of doubt. So, with everything clicking once again, can Maples be the best player in the conference for the season’s decisive moments?
“Does it look it?” she asked, rhetorically.
3. Though it didn’t really have much of an impact on the final outcome, the way Cleveland State and Milwaukee used their benches was an interesting study in contrasts.
By halftime, the Panthers had already used a whopping 13 players, their entire roster save freshmen Lizzy Favret and Olivia Olson, who are presumably being held out of action to preserve their respective first years of eligibility. Jorey Buwalda led the way for the visitors with 13 points and 12 rebounds, but all 13 visitors played for at least six minutes, and 12 recorded something under one of the three primary stat columns.
Though Vikings bench players like Paula Pique, Laurel Rockwood, and Ella Van Weelden saw decent amounts of time on the floor, CSU used a much more conventional rotation. There was also a mild oddity attached to that deployment, as Cleveland State’s five starters scored all 66 of the team’s points.
Maples and Leonard (who had 14 points and three assists) were probably the headliners, though Zingaro (11 points and 11 rebounds) and Fegan (12 points and three assists) had quietly effective outings as well. Hurley finished 3-for-5 from three-point range and added five rebounds, as she continues to develop into Kielsmeier’s ideal for the three position.
4. It wasn’t a perfect effort. The Panthers actually outscored Cleveland State in the second half, including a 7-0 run over the closing five minutes of the evening. After Rita Gomes knocked down a three with 2:27 to go (the last points by either team, as it turned out), Kielsmeier walked out to the center court logo to call timeout.
A less-noticed lull came right on the heels of the Vikings’ first major run of the contest. Milwaukee responded by dabbling with the zone that frustrated CSU during its loss at the Klotsche Center four weeks earlier, and managed to trim their deficit to 20-11 by the second quarter media break, following a tough Kendall Barnes layup.
Though it’s hard to argue that home team’s control of the game was ever truly in jeopardy, Wednesday night had begun to show some similar patterns to that Panthers win in Milwaukee, including the fact that the Vikings were shooting just 26.1 percent from the floor at that point.
Regardless, if there was a threat, it quickly ended after the timeout with the Maples three, followed closely by Leonard’s shot-clock-beating bomb. Those buckets began CSU’s second surge, the one that saw them score 16 of the first half’s last 18 points.
Still, those slow stretches will gnaw at Kielsmeier a bit.
“We’ve got to show more of a killer instinct,” he said “We had [the lead] at 29 or whatever it was. Knock ’em out, and get that thing to 35 or 40, and show that you can be that kind of team. We’ve struggled with that. That has not been something that we’ve done consistently well, and elite teams do that.”
That the Vikings had a response when pushed in the second quarter is an encouraging sign, but as Kielsmeier sees it, those situations are one of the only times he’d rather play offense than defense.
“I know this team has more in them,” he added. “I know what this team is capable of, and I’m going to push and push and push until I help them get there, and maybe we won’t, but it ain’t going to be a lack of trying from anybody in this program. I can assure you that.”
5. Kielsmeier hates the phrase “must-win,” and asking him whether any game meets that status is liable to return a sarcastic “they’re all must-wins.”
Still, there’s really no way around the fact that the Milwaukee game was about as close to a must-win as it gets for Cleveland State right now. The contest was wedged in the middle of four road games, and the Vikings had already lost the first two of the segment, at Purdue Fort Wayne and Youngstown State last week. Those defeats dropped the Vikings to sixth place in the Horizon League, bad news in a conference where only the top five receive home games in the tournament, before the venue shifts to neutral Indianapolis.
What’s more, CSU suddenly finds itself pushed from behind by resurgent Oakland and IU Indianapolis teams. A loss to UWM, in fact, would have dropped the Vikings behind OU, which simultaneously defeated the Jaguars on Wednesday.
The coach came about as close as he gets to admitting the game was a must-win during his weekly radio show two days earlier.
“It’s been a tough stretch for us,” he said. “Anytime you’ve got a schedule where you play four on the road in five games, you’re going to really value that one game at home even that much more.”
Mission accomplished, in one sense. In another, though, the job is only beginning. Two more road contests await, of course, at Northern Kentucky and IU Indy. Those are followed by games at the Wolstein Center against contenders PFW and Green Bay, then another bus trip, to Robert Morris.
For the Vikings to make up enough lost ground, they’ll need to keep winning. By definition, that involves somehow correcting a 2-6 record in true away games.
“We have stunk on the road, and we need to show that we’ve got the toughness to go be an elite team on the road because we do, but we haven’t showed it,” Kielsmeier said. “I am a results guy. We have not played well on the road.”
“[We need] the confidence that we know we can play our best at any time,” Maples added. “It’s just up to us, and honestly place doesn’t matter. We just know we have to bring our A game wherever we go, home or away.”
It’s no secret to observers that Cleveland State’s trademark zone defense has been remarkably inconsistent. While Jada Leonard has been among the conference and national leaders for steals through most of the season, the Vikings’ forced turnover numbers have trended south when facing familiar opponents during the conference schedule.
CSU’s shot suppression has generally been a strong point, though it’s still had rough moments, like last Wednesday, when Purdue Fort Wayne buried 11 of its 28 three-point attempts.
“The zone this year has been just the strangest thing,” Chris Kielsmeier said on his weekly radio show. “Some nights it’s as good of a rotation, and pressure, and aggressiveness as any team I’ve coached at Cleveland State. And then just other nights, we just don’t have that same intensity, that same pressure, rotation, quickness, and it just leaves a lot of people open.”
That’s a fair, and expected, assessment, though Kielsmeier then went on to say something a little surprising.
“In Fort Wayne’s case, especially with [Alana] Nelson, she’s as good as anybody in the league,” he added. “We made some mistakes with her, and she got some good looks, and players like that are going to hit those shots.”
Kielsmeier usually adheres to a pretty common philosophy among coaches: don’t talk about opponents publicly, except in very broad terms, to avoid even the possibility of someone interpreting a comment as adversarial (he learned about that outcome the hard way after a game against PFW last year, of course).
If he does need to mention specific players, he’ll typically refer to them by number, not by name. So, in that context, Kielsmeier going out of his way to single out the Mastodons forward feels notable.
Nelson scored 23 points on 9-for-12 shooting against CSU last week, and averages 16.4 points per game this year. She will almost certainly receive all-league recognition next month, and possibly even the Horizon League’s Player of the Year award.
In fact, she just might have Kielsmeier’s vote for that latter honor.
Snow Day
Given Winter Storm Fern and its related inconveniences before and after Sunday’s game at Youngstown State, director of basketball operations Hanna Zerr would have been a fascinating interview. However, Zerr was on the radio show only two weeks ago, so assistant coach Jenna Bolstad’s secondhand account of those preparations had to suffice.
“I feel bad for our director of ops, Hanna,” Bolstad began. “I think she planned our trip to Youngstown about five or six different times, with buses or vans, and planning of everything. I don’t envy any of what she has to do, but I appreciate all she does, because that’s all the work behind the scenes.”
As it turned out, 12 to 15 inches of snow battered the Mahoning Valley over what was roughly an 18-hour period, between the night leading into Sunday and that evening. YSU urged fans to stay off the roads and watch the game at home, but the visiting team had no such luxury.
Bolstad mentioned that it could have been even worse, though.
“Back home [in Montana], they had negative-60 with the windchill the other morning,” she said.
End-to-End
While answering a question about post depth, Bolstad pointed out something obvious, yet easy to forget. Specifically, she cited the idea that post players are larger than guards, and actually have to run a bit further when going up and down the court.
“The depth helps us when we want to get up and run, we can sub in another, after another, so we can continue to run,” she said. “Because a five player, that’s a lot on them to run. You run [legitimately] 94 feet, whereas guards are maybe running three-point line to three-point line, and that’s 20 feet shorter.”
Sweet Carolyn
Cleveland State graduate assistant Carolyn Wochele, who serves as the team’s video coordinator, is a product of one of the true hidden gems in the area, Baldwin Wallace women’s basketball.
Between 2020 and 2024, Wochele helped the Division III powerhouse to three conference titles and three NCAA Tournament appearances, including a couple of trips to the Sweet 16. Those successes are just a sampling of the 35-year run that legendary coach Cheri Harrer has enjoyed in Berea, where she’s stockpiled enough victories to rank among the top 50 mentors of all time, at any level.
“I had probably the best four years of my life there,” the former Yellow Jackets captain said. “I was fortunate to have a very successful career, met some of my best friends, and had some of the best coaches I could have asked for in the world, and I think they molded me to be in the position I am now.”
“Being around people like that really inspired me to kind of want to coach, and continue on the avenue with basketball.”
After graduating, Wochele was a part of the WBCA’s well-regarded “So You Want to Be a Coach” program, which she credits with helping her land a graduate assistantship at Walsh University. She spent the 2024-25 season with the Division II school in Canton before joining the Vikings’ staff.
“She’s just a basketball junkie,” Kielsmeier said. “She loves the game. She’s all in with coaching. You love to hire [graduate assistants] that feel that way, because then their passion and drive to get better and learn is really not coming from really anybody other than themselves.”
“Coach K and the staff this year have been incredible,” Wochele said, returning the compliment. “And I think I’ve really found myself, I have my specific duties that I really like to focus on and do my best at, but I’m still finding a way to integrate myself with the other coaches. If there’s something I can help out with a scout or with on-court workouts, anything that I can do to just help out in different ways and not only grow my skillset, but just help the program however I can.”
Just Win Baby
The Vikings are now just 5-6 in Horizon League play following those losses to Purdue Fort Wayne and Youngstown State over the last week (not to mention earlier upset defeats against Detroit Mercy and Milwaukee, teams that are now a combined 3-16 in the conference, when not playing CSU).
That record, this late in the season, can naturally lead to some uncomfortable conversations concerning Cleveland State’s eventual HL tournament seeding, the related ideas of hosting in the second round and making it back to Indianapolis for the third round, and the Vikings’ postseason fate beyond that.
“We are not where we want or expect to be in the standings,” Kielsmeier admitted. “But we’ve created this situation for ourselves, and the only way to get out of it is go win games. That’s what you’ve got to do this time of year. And historically, that’s what this program has done. So I think that it’s coming. I just hope it comes sooner rather than later.”
Fort Wayne, IN – In the revenge game against Robert Morris (14-7, 7-5 Horizon League), scoring was at a premium for the Purdue Fort Wayne Mastodons (14-8, 8-4 Horizon League) until the fourth quarter. For the league’s top scoring offense, not scoring more than 14 points in a quarter looked like another recipe for disaster. After losing the first matchup between the two teams 64-74 in Moon Township, the Mastodons were looking to get in the winner’s column in Tuesday evening’s contest. Rather than looking towards their two solidified scoring threats, the ‘Dons turned to two others known for their selflessness and “team first” attitudes to win 60-46 on the first game of the Homecoming Week festivities for Purdue Fort Wayne.
Lauren Lee and Lili Krasovec each had career nights in the victory. Just days removed from setting her Division I high in points scored with 11 against Northern Kentucky, Lee outdid herself by one for an even dozen against the Colonials. Don’t get it twisted – Lee can score when she needs. The Dunnville, Kentucky native now has 1,732 career points across her collegiate career. Since her time with the ‘Dons, Lee has been seen as a floor general and facilitator. She is sixth in the conference in total assists (67) and fourth in assist/turnover ratio (1.8). Against the Colonials, her scoring gene was activated – including a few very nice post shots and fade aways that many forwards/center would die for to have in their arsenal.
Krasovec was unstoppable. The Hungarian hooper finished the night with a career high 24 points on 11-of-14 (78.6%) shooting and a perfect 2-of-2 from the line. Krasovec was living in the post and having her way with her defenders all night. With one of the quickest steps from the post, Krasovec repeatedly maneuvered her 6-3 frame around the defender for the basket. She also played very well defensively. Ending the night with seven rebounds and three heavy hitting blocks, it felt like John Nolan and Derek Decker were constantly calling her name on every possession. Her greatest feat of the night? Well, if you ask her, it’s that she didn’t foul out as she sent home a message to her family and friends in Hungary claiming that they “can’t be mad at her tonight”. Before tonight, Krasovec had four straight games of four personal fouls, and the game before that she fouled out against Cleveland State. Certainly no Mastodon fan can be mad at Krasovec for her performance tonight.
Lili Krasovec drives to the basket against her Robert Morris defender in the 60-46 win Tuesday night. (Photo: x.com/MastodonWBB)
With the recent production of Alana Nelson and Rylee Bess, many who just see the final score would imagine that the 14-point victory was about a 14-point spread, if not more, the entire game. However, this couldn’t be further from the truth. Nelson and Bess both were clamped down all game by a combination of the Colonial defense and foul trouble. The league leading Nelson (16.4 ppg) struggled early with foul trouble picking up two in the first two minutes of the game – one on offense and another on defense literally the next play. She would sit for the remainder of the quarter and enter the game at the start of the second quarter. Another foul with 4:49 remaining in the half would send Nelson to the bench for the half held scoreless in the few minutes she had played. Nelson sits second in the Horizon League in minutes played per game at 34.3, only behind Youngstown State’s Casey Santoro’s 34.8. In this win, she would only play 24 minutes. Her lowest minute total of the season was 23 minutes in the 104-31 against Aquinas where the Mastodon bench got some serious playing time. Nelson’s first points of the game would come in the fourth quarter with 30 minutes and 15 seconds of game time elapsed. She would score again in the fourth, but if you told any Mastodon fan that Alana Nelson would only score four points this game, probably all would expect a Colonial blowout win.
If you told any Mastodon fan that Alana Nelson, Rylee Bess, and Jordan Reid would only combine for 13 points, some might have bet mortgage or student loan values on a Colonial win. Bess played plenty of minutes, and didn’t have to worry about foul trouble. She ended the game with a team high 33 minutes and blemish free in the fouls column. The Colonial defense just had her on lock down face guarding her a majority of the game. Her 27 point performance against Northern Kentucky must have been enough for RMU’s head coach Chandler McCabe to change a defensive game plan to eliminate a large scoring threat. Bess would finish with just three points. Those three points came from a second half three-pointer. In true Bess fashion, that three-pointer was her side step shot mimicking the game winner against Purdue. Reid would be relatively quiet as well. She finished the game with only six points on 30% shooting.
Fortunately for the Mastodons, they weren’t the only team struggling with foul trouble. The officiating crew appeared to have an emphasis on offensive fouls early in this game with three player control fouls called in the first frame. One of these was on RMU’s leading scorer Aislin Malcolm. Malcolm came into the game averaging 12.4 points per game on 28.5 minutes per game. Malcolm soon found herself in the same situation as Nelson – picking up two fouls in the first quarter and sitting on the bench. She would sit until the 3:38 mark in the second quarter, but she would pick up her third foul in the half with 26 seconds remaining. This would severely hamper her availability in the third, and she wouldn’t return until after the media timeout. Malcolm would finish with two points on 1-of-8 shooting in 25 minutes played.
The missing offensive fire power that the ‘Dons are used to from Nelson, Bess, and Reid was evident. The Mastodons never led for the first 18 minutes of the game. In a complete Uno Reverse from their game against Cleveland State would start the game an ice cold 0-of-7 from the floor. Nearly five minutes into the quarter, Krasovec would get her first basket of 11 to get the ‘Dons on the board. After losing the first quarter 16-9, the absence of Nelson due to her fouls appeared to be catastrophic for Maria Marchesano’s offense. The ‘Dons would have to rely on their defense creating chaos and disrupting timings if they wanted a shot to close the gap and win this game. Purdue Fort Wayne would switch to a zone defense to help the interior defense and to give RMU a new look. After a three-pointer by RMU’s Noa Givon to start the second quarter, the Colonials would be held scoreless for four minutes. This drought allowed for the Mastodons to chip away at the lead, and a tip-in from Krasovec and a driving layup by Reid would give the Mastodons their first lead 23-21 with under two minutes in the first half. RMU’s Myriam Traore would get the lead back all by herself with two baskets, and the Colonials took a 25-23 lead into the half.
Lauren Lee (5) goes for a first quarter floater in the lane over Aislin Malcom (2). (Photo: x.com/MastodonWBB)
The third quarter played out like this game was billed to be. The two teams traded baskets, defensive stands, and small momentum swings only to be silenced by the other team. Bailey Kuhns scored first for Robert Morris with a shot near the rim only for Krasovec to respond with a layup of her own. Lee hit a step back in the paint for PFW only for RMU’s Eva Levingston to go 2-of-2 from the line. The lead changed hands four times in the quarter, and ultimately the Colonials would win the quarter 15-14. Malcolm’s lone two points came in this quarter with a driving layup to give RMU a 38-34 lead into the final frame.
Down four heading into the fourth quarter, the Mastodons needed either step up offensively and score a lot more than the Colonials or step up defensively and not allow RMU to score near as many points. How about both? Offensively, Krasovec was surgical going a perfect 5-of-5 in the quarter. As a team, the ‘Dons shot 66.7% from the floor in the quarter for an explosive 23 points. Lee added six, and Nelson and Bess scored their only points in this quarter. A 23-point quarter is nice, but it doesn’t mean much if your opponent also fills up the stat sheet. How did the ‘Dons defense do? RMU was able to muster a mere six points in the quarter. After only allowing four points in the first five minutes, the ‘Dons would go on a 12-0 run to seal the deal. The last points for RMU came on a offensive rebound tip by Traore to cut the deficit to 14. After the ball was inbounded, PFW held the ball at the corner of the sideline and half court near their bench for the final 20 seconds of the game.
Thanks to the efficient scoring in the fourth, the Mastodons would offset the rough start and finish 27-of-59 (45.8%) from the field. The Colonials would leave quiet a bit of scoring on the floor shooting 20-of-61 (32.8%) as a team. There is no sugar coating that the three-point shooting in the game was atrocious. Robert Morris only hits one three-pointer 17 attempts. RMU can win without the deep ball falling. They did so with no made threes in a win against Detroit Mercy, one made three in each win over IU Indy and Mercyhurst, and a 2-of-21 performance in a win over Saint Francis (PA). On the other side, Purdue Fort Wayne shot their lowest percentage (12.5%) of the season and matched the second lowest percentage of the Marchesano Era when the 2023-2024 team shot 3-of-24 from beyond the arc against Bellarmine. The 2022-2023 team went 2-of-24 (8.3%) from deep against then IUPUI.
The difference in the game was the paint scoring. After the ‘Dons went to the zone defense, the Colonials struggled. The Mastodons outscored the Colonials in the paint 50-30. Krasovec scored 22 of her 24 points in or just outside the paint with the other two coming from the line.
With the win, Purdue Fort Wayne took sole possession of second place in the Horizon League. Robert Morris, who was tied for second coming into the game, now slips into a tie for fourth with Northern Kentucky. Youngstown State holds a half game lead on RMU for the time being, but RMU won the matchup against the Penguins earlier in the year.
Purdue Fort Wayne will remain at home to hopefully put a bow on the homecoming festivities when Detroit Mercy comes to town on Sunday, February 1. The Titans currently sit at the bottom of the Horizon League standings with an overall record of 4-16 and a Horizon League record of 2-9. This is the first matchup between the two teams this season, and the Mastodons have a four game win streak against Detroit Mercy. More so, the ‘Dons are 9-1 against the Titans in the last 10 meetings. PFW also leads the all-time series 11-10. The game is scheduled to start at 2:00pm ET and will be broadcasted on ESPN+.
I don’t know what it feels like to die, and hopefully won’t for quite a while, but I imagine that it’s a bit like the day before a winter storm.
It’s not a terrible analogy, if you linger on it. Ahead of some catastrophic event set to incapacitate you, the top priority – the only priority, really – is getting your affairs in order. Do what you need to do and get where you need to be, because tomorrow isn’t guaranteed to anyone, but especially not to you.
For my last day on Earth, I decided to drive to a Cleveland State basketball game, while doing my best to forget about the inevitable. I listened to old songs that transported me to a different time and place, stopped a couple times to enjoy the view, and blew up my calorie budget with a Frosty.
I also thought a little bit about how I drove to CSU basketball games on each of my last two birthdays as well. The logic, maybe on the verge of rationalization, was in the vicinity of “well, this is what I do, I can’t think of a more appropriate use of this finite time.” Some people use milestone occasions to do something big and different, as they’re able, but the writer in me sees the literary value in going out just as you lived. There’s really no reason to blow up the core dynamic. Monica and Chandler don’t have to move to the suburbs in the last episode. The show can just…end.
This time was a bit different in at least one respect, though. The game was in Youngstown, a mere 80 miles from my house, and I was a day early. I’d never go to Youngstown a day early given any other option, but this time, there wasn’t.
My initial destination, the downtown DoubleTree by Hilton inside the historic Stambaugh Building, certainly felt like a bucket list “spend it while you can” experience. My previous overnight stay involved a Motel 6 in Oak Creek, WI that smelled and sounded like a house party, an idea that carried some added authenticity through the fact that some guests appeared to be living there. The night before that saw me at a Super 8 in Green Bay, a place that didn’t offer the same chance of a contact high, just a broken vending machine next to a photo of Brett Favre.
A king bed in a four-star hotel with room service, in the heart of one of the Horizon League’s #MajorCities? A space where I wouldn’t be afraid to turn on a black light? Sign me up. I checked in, walked a few blocks to a junior hockey game, came up with amateur assessments of a few skaters with seemingly unlimited tomorrows, then returned to Room 401 for as much gluttony as I could tolerate.
Next thing I knew, I was awkwardly sprawled across the bed, as if my body wasn’t sure what to do with that much surface area. My headphones – I’ve needed sound to sleep since middle school – were on the floor, tangled up in the long-ejected blankets.
Instinctively, I grabbed my phone off the nightstand. 8:34. I guess I wasn’t dead.
Maybe an hour later, I ventured down a silent hallway, clomped down the Stambaugh Building’s 120-year-old staircase, then past a locked restaurant with chairs on its tables, and out the front door, where I was confronted with a sight both familiar and novel: A good seven or eight inches of snow had fallen overnight, with that total continuing to expand by the minute, on the way to a final tally between 12 and 15.
I paused to look up and down Wick Street, which was covered in a ghostly haze that, under different circumstances, could have been mistaken for the afterlife, that far-off, yet comfortable, realm. The silent, ethereal beauty of that moment was somehow both liminal and tangible.
Also, right about then, I realized that I had yet to see any signs of life beyond my own that morning. Maybe, my mind began to wander, it was everyone else who died. Maybe I had misread the signs the day before, and the cancelation of events from college basketball games to my nephew’s birthday party was brought on by an imminent apocalypse. Maybe I was the lone survivor, the last of my species, now forced into managing a futile survival.
Regardless, absent any other idea of what to do in that situation, I slung a backpack containing a laptop and several extra pairs of socks over my left shoulder, and started walking down the middle of the vacant road, up a hill and into the veiled unknown.
As any disaster film aficionado knows, there’s generally a point somewhere in the middle of the second act when the protagonist slowly encounters other survivors, who then coordinate to either fight back against an existential threat or learn to manage their new reality.
Slowly, but surely, that began to happen to me as well. My first encounter with another human involved someone who tried to follow me north on four wheels, but had to retreat when learning that his Honda wasn’t built for the conditions. Somewhere around Rayen Avenue, there was another pedestrian who thought better than to try to get anywhere with two-wheel-drive, and we exchanged knowing waves.
StoneFruit Coffee offered more than a greeting, defying all expectations simply by being open to serve a latte and a breakfast sandwich. The mere presence of that staff of two and their functioning equipment, serving as a refuge from the lunar landscape outside, was notable enough to draw in a news crew from WFMJ-TV just as I was leaving.
A few blocks, a couple tissues, and one more hill later, I made it to Zidian Family Arena at Beeghly Center, and ran into about five more people two hours ahead of Sunday’s game. Most of them seemed a bit stunned, both at the fact that they made it inside and that they had to work that day at all.
Despite Youngstown State’s best efforts to keep people away from the contest, roughly 15 fans eventually showed up to watch the Penguins thrash CSU. That number, of course, doesn’t count the teams themselves and other necessary personnel, which went through their own harrowing journeys to get there. YSU coach Melissa Jackson picked up her players at their respective apartments. Vikings director of basketball operations Hanna Zerr, according to assistant coach Jenna Bolstad, “planned our trip to Youngstown about five or six different times.” The home school’s athletic director, Ron Strollo, ended up running the clock since nobody else was around to do it.
Each came away from the unique happening with a story of plunging headfirst into the unknown, and coming out okay on the other side.
Mine ended, as it usually does, by talking to Chris Kielsmeier, who greeted me with a surprised “What are you doing here?”
In that moment, I shrugged. That evening, I realized how I should’ve answered.
The chaos within the Horizon League this week is not reflected in drastic power ranking changes, but the action has the author on edge thinking about what could possibly happen next. Here is this week’s edition of the rankings.
1.Wright State
How about the week the Raiders had? After handling business for seven games in a row, Wright State dropped a shocking home game to Cleveland State. WSU retains the No. 1 spot because of how it handled Northern Kentucky, and the help it received from the team behind them.
2. Oakland
Oakland’s loss at home to IU Indy may have been more shocking than Wright State’s loss, given the score. IU Indy poured in 103 points and led the Golden Grizzlies by 26 in the final minutes. Like Wright State, Oakland was impressive in its bounce back, handling Detroit Mercy on the road 95-87. Big week ahead with Purdue Fort Wayne and Northern Kentucky.
3. Purdue Fort Wayne
Winners of five in a row, this looks like a team that will have to be paid attention to. Corey Hadnot II is up to 20 points per game on the season, and the ‘Dons look like a contender because of it. Purdue Fort Wayne has their chance to really announce themselves this week when Oakland comes to town.
4. Green Bay
Just like the top two, Green Bay stays out even after a loss to a bottom three team in the standings. The Phoenix went on the road and were handled by Youngstown State, but followed it up with a solid win at Robert Morris. Green Bay has four of the next five at home as they look to make a push towards the top of the standings.
5. Northern Kentucky
The Norse’s only showing for this week’s edition was an 88-80 loss at Wright State. Four guys are averaging over 14 points a game, with Donovan Oday leading the way at 17.9. This team is dangerous, but have now lost three of its last four. Big road trip to Michigan looms this weekend.
6. Robert Morris
The Colonials split with the Wisconsin teams at home. DeSean Goode has been great, but quick shoutout to Ryan Prather Jr. He had 20+ points in four games in a row, before having 14 against Green Bay. He’s playing like someone who knows how to win a championship in this league.
7. Milwaukee (+1)
Stevie Elam! His game winner lifted the Panthers over Youngstown State on the road, in a win that felt massive for how tough life has been for Milwaukee. Seems like Faizon Fields is getting closer and closer to returning, and that would be a huge boost for this Milwaukee frontline. Don’t write them off.
8. Detroit Mercy (-1)
Detroit Mercy lost two tough battles at home with Purdue Fort Wayne and Oakland. The Titans have a tough schedule down the stretch here, and are going to need some great performances to stack wins. Legend Geeter is someone who can step up and be a needed post scoring threat — he just had 24 against Oakland.
9. Cleveland State
The Vikings deserved to move up, but it’s hard to put them ahead of someone who has beaten them twice by double digits. What a win for them at Wright State. Dayan Nessah’s 31 points, 10 rebounds and five assists is one of the best performances in the league so far. Can they build off of this in Wisconsin?
10. IU Indy (+1)
You deserve to be out of the basement, Jags. Kyler D’Augustino and Finley Woodward were magical at Oakland, and they got their biggest win of the season by far. They go to Robert Morris and Youngstown State next, which will not be easy with both teams desperate for wins.
11. Youngstown State (-1)
Unfortunately for Youngstown State, it got punished for two great wins by other teams. I’m sure the fan base won’t be too upset they are ranked here though, given how the season has gone. The Penguins did show signs of life in their home win against Green Bay, behind Cris Carroll’s 34 points and seven rebounds. They have IU Indy at home on Friday — a must win game for the Penguins.
Green Bay gave up an 18-2 run to Detroit Mercy on Saturday, and only led the Titans by an eyebrow-raising 34-30 early in the third quarter. However, that’s about the only drama that the Phoenix faced in cruising to a pair of home victories that were a bit more competitive than expected, but still fairly routine. Behind Maddy Skorupski’s season-high 22 points and an 11-10 double-double from Jenna Guyer, GB restored its double-digit lead roughly five minutes after that UDM run ended, eventually logging a 72-61 win. Skorupski scored 19 against her old Oakland team on Thursday (making it 40 total in this season’s two games against OU), as Green Bay surged to a 21-7 advantage nine minutes into the game, and never truly looked back. The Phoenix are now just eight wins away from a perfect conference season.
How tightly-packed is the Horizon League’s second tier, following Green Bay? Consider that one week ago, Robert Morris was probably the least-consistent member of the group, a status that placed the Colonials closer to the end of the list than the beginning. Now, after dominant wins over Youngstown State and Wright State (along with some scoreboard help), RMU is tied for second place, with a 7-4 HL mark. Knocking off the Penguins on Wednesday, in a 55-40 rock fight, gave the Colonials a 3-2 record against YSU, Purdue Fort Wayne, Northern Kentucky, and Cleveland State. It also involved holding their northwestern neighbors to just 15-for-50 (a clean 30 percent) shooting, including 3-for-18 (17 percent) from three-point range. A now-healthy Ava Leroux has done wonders for Chandler McCabe’s post rotation – she had 12 points and eight rebounds against the Guins, then followed that up with a career-high 19 tallies and another eight boards versus WSU on Saturday.
Purdue Fort Wayne emphatically ended a three-game skid with a pair of high-quality wins over the last week, including at home against Cleveland State and on the road at Northern Kentucky. The latter, on Saturday, was far and away the more compelling of the two. The Mastodons were led by a career-high 27 points from freshman Rylee Bess, but nevertheless trailed by three in the final 30 seconds of the fourth quarter, until Lili Krasovec converted an and-one play. That, combined with a subsequent stop, was enough to force an ultimately-fruitful overtime period. Alana Nelson logged a workmanlike 16 points and eight rebounds against the Norse, but was just about unstoppable in the mid-week triumph over CSU. In that contest, the former NAIA All-American hit nine of her 12 field goal attempts (including a 4-for-5 effort from three-point range) on the way to 23 points. She was also a prominent part of a team-wide 7-for-7 start that had the ‘Dons on the front foot from the opening tip.
Youngstown State throttled rival Cleveland State 61-38 on Sunday, an important win for the Penguins on the heels of losing consecutive games for the first time all season, including that clunker at Robert Morris on Wednesday. Danielle Cameron took the top off of the Vikings with five three-pointers among her 17 points, though the more impressive aspect of the victory was a defense that held CSU below 30 percent shooting, while limiting Izabella Zingaro, Colbi Maples, and Macey Fegan to a combined 13 points. The result places the Penguins right back among the leaders of the group chasing the Horizon League’s second seed, and with arguably the easiest remaining schedule of the bunch. Casey Santoro scored 19 of Youngstown State’s 40 points at RMU on 50 percent shooting, but obviously didn’t have a ton of help.
Simply put, it wasn’t an amazing week for Northern Kentucky, which saw its seven-game winning streak evaporate with losses to IU Indianapolis and Purdue Fort Wayne – results that were enough to send the Norse tumbling from second place to fifth. One point of particular agony was the fact that NKU led both games within the final 90 seconds of regulation, but simply came up on the short end of several decisive plays down the stretch each time. Nevertheless, Karina Bystry continued her outstanding rookie season in the overtime loss to the Mastodons. The Tennessee native scored 35 points, setting a new Division I-era school record, while establishing a new high-water mark for Horizon League players this season. She also scored 18 times in Northern Kentucky’s shocking loss to the Jaguars, though classmate Maddie Moody paced the Norse with 19 that day.
After extremely ugly road losses to Purdue Fort Wayne and Youngstown State, Cleveland State is now much closer to teams like IU Indianapolis and Oakland than to the likes of the Mastodons and Penguins. That’s not a subjective call; the Vikings are only one-half game clear of eighth place in the standings, with a 5-6 Horizon League mark. All isn’t lost for CSU, which is just over one week removed from an impressive win over Robert Morris, but it is a bit alarming that the Vikings could barely slow down PFW on Wednesday, before managing just 38 points against the Guins just four days later. A home game against Milwaukee coming up on Wednesday is virtually a must-win, given that Cleveland State’s following six contests involve IU Indy twice, Northern Kentucky, Green Bay, and rematches with the Colonials and ‘Dons.
Far from resting on any sort of “hey, we’re actually good” credibility that might have come from January 17th’s victory over Youngstown State, IU Indianapolis came right back and stunned Northern Kentucky in The Jungle on Wednesday. The result, which tossed water on the then-scorching Norse, came about largely thanks to Olivia Smith’s backloaded 23 points. NKU went ahead 69-67 with 1:29 remaining, but Smith went on to score eight of the game’s final nine, while the Jaguars earned stops on four of Northern Kentucky’s final five possessions. Smith, one of the HL’s emergent stars, now has at least 16 tallies in each of her last four games, and has crept within the top 15 scorers in the conference. The Jags remain two full games behind NKU for the final second-round home game in the league tournament, but that might not prove much of an obstacle with the way they’re playing.
Oakland exited the week with what’s generally considered a passable trip to Wisconsin: a reasonably-competitive loss to Green Bay, and a solid victory over Milwaukee. That win over the Panthers on Saturday was keyed by Filippa Goula, who bucketed a career-high 21 points on 8-for-14 shooting, including four three-pointers. Makenzie Luehring, meanwhile, continued her case for Horizon League freshman honors, with 25 points, six rebounds, and five assists, helping OU take definitive control of the contest with a 19-2 run bridging halftime. A 14-point defeat in the Kress Center, as the Golden Grizzlies experienced on Thursday, certainly isn’t cause for embarrassment, and it’s worth noting that Oakland played the Phoenix on even terms for 31 minutes after a slow start. Luehring (15 points), Lianna Baxter (16), and Layla Gold (12, with nine rebounds) led OU’s effort that day.
Given the improved fortunes of both IU Indy and Oakland (not to mention the glut of teams ahead of those two), it’s getting difficult to see Milwaukee earning a favorable conference tournament seed. The Panthers split a pair of home games this past week, beating Detroit Mercy and losing to Oakland, to move to 3-8 in Horizon League play. Notably, UWM is now done playing the pair of Michigan schools, and the fact that they swept the Titans while being swept by the Golden Grizzlies should offer a dose of clarity to the always-chaotic stretch run of the regular season. Despite that loss to OU on Saturday, underrated guard Grace Lomen was outstanding, establishing a new career high with 27 points on 10-for-13 shooting, including 7-for-8 from three-point range, as the Panthers’ late push came up short. Jorey Buwalda offered a sturdy 21-and-10 effort to the victory over the Titans on Thursday.
Rescheduling its home contest with Robert Morris from Sunday to Saturday helped Wright State avoid Winter Storm Fern, but it couldn’t help the Raiders avoid a tenth defeat in their last 11 games (with the sole win, as luck would have it, coming against Detroit Mercy, the only team behind them in these power rankings). Unlike the Titans, however, WSU didn’t stockpile any moral victories while losing. In fact, in that game, Wright State led 22-18 early in the second quarter…then didn’t score for the next twelve minutes and thirty-eight seconds (spelled out for emphasis), as the Colonials took control of the afternoon with a 23-0 run. Lauren Scott had a nice day with 15 points on 6-for-11 shooting, including a trio of threes, but her teammates only managed to hit 30 percent of their shots.
Detroit Mercy’s losing streak is now up to nine games, after the Titans went 0-for-2 in Wisconsin. The skid – which began with a rather embarrassing defeat to local NAIA opponent Rochester Christian on December 29th – has plummeted UDM to the bottom of the conference standings with a 2-9 HL mark (most of a 4-16 overall record). Undoubtedly, one of the truly frustrating things about Detroit Mercy’s misfortunes is that, most of the time, the Titans haven’t played all that poorly. In fact, they only lost to league-leading Green Bay by 11 points in their gym, while demonstrating the sort of depth that’s typically necessary to upend the Phoenix. That depth included seven different players hit who at least two field goals, led by Nisea Burrell and Jasmine Edwards. Unfortunately for Kiefer Haffey’s crew, UDM’s final nine games don’t offer much of a reprieve.
Player of the Week
Olivia Smith (IU Indianapolis)
This week offered another competitive awards field, so why not go with Smith, the most notorious player on (arguably) the conference’s biggest story at the moment? The Ball State transfer has scored 16 or more points in each of her last four games, leading the surging Jaguars towards the top half of the standings.
Also considered: Maddy Skorupski (Green Bay), Makenzie Luehring (Oakland), Ava Leroux (Robert Morris), Rylee Bess (Purdue Fort Wayne), Alana Nelson (Purdue Fort Wayne)
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