Life on the road continues for the Wright State women’s basketball team with two games in three days against Wisconsin-based opponents, beginning with a game versus the Milwaukee Panthers Thursday night at 8 p.m. at the Klotsche Center.
The first portion of WSU’s four-game road stand proved successful. Behind Kim Demmings season-high tying 31 points, the Raiders defeated lowly Valparaiso 79-65 on Saturday to improve to 3-1 in the conference. The Raiders connected on 10 3-pointers in the contest, forced 23 Crusaders
turnovers and produced a rare, but dominant, rebounding performance, finishing plus-12 on the glass.
In total, four Raiders finished in double-figures. WSU’s defense largely frustrated Valpo’s guards, collecting 13 steals. The Raiders were able to put the Crusaders away down the stretch, despite Valpo shooting 54 percent for the game.
It was an important bounce-back victory for the Raiders (14-5, 3-1) following their worst home loss of the season to Cleveland State six days earlier.
The Panthers will look to halt the Raiders’ momentum after dropping an 87-71 decision to conference-leader Youngstown State Saturday. Defense failed the Panthers in the defeat, with the Penguins shooting 50 percent from the field and using two 15-4 runs to distance themselves from UMW.
If the Panthers are to climb back into the conference standings, they will do so on the shoulders of their two leading scorers, senior guard Angela Rodriguez and junior swingman Ashley Green. Similar to the Raiders, the Panthers starting five feature a small unit that shoots a plethora of 3-pointers.
Tipoff is scheduled for 8 p.m. and the game can be streamed live on horizonleague.org.
