The Wright State women’s basketball team opened its preseason with a 113-80 win in an exhibition against the Ashland Eagles. The Raiders put on a scoring clinic led by the dynamic backcourt duo of Kim Demmings with 24 points and Tay’ler Mingo with 20 points and six assists.
The Raiders had six double-digit scorers.
Demmings set the tone early with a pull-up jump shot from the free throw line right off of tip off. She found her groove early and kept it going with back-to-back three pointers just four minutes into the game. In just 11 minutes, Demmings put up 14 including four 3 pointers. Ashland never found an answer for Demmings as she ended the first half with 19 points, shooting 55 percent from the field.
She was complemented by fellow senior guard Tay’ler Mingo who had total control of the offense from start to finish. She got everyone involved early with 5 first half assists, but also seemed to get to the rim whenever she pleased, scoring 18 first half points and going a perfect 8-8 from the free throw line.
The frontcourt was led by Tayler Stanton. The 6-foot senior dominated the offensive paint from tipoff. She finished the game with a double-double collecting 10 boards and adding 15 points.
“We have to stay focused, but we did really well today and I was proud,” said Stanton.
Van Der Keijl debuts
Richelle van der Keijl made her first appearance in a Raiders uniform Saturday evening, but it did not go exactly as planned. The 6-foot-5 center from the Netherlands redshirted last year after sustaining an Achilles injury in the preseason. After a whole year out of action, she had some obvious rust to shake off. Her timing seemed to be off in the first half, missing two close shots and grabbing two quick fouls.
Van Der Keijl looked more comfortable in the second half, grabbing four rebounds and scoring her first points as a Raider. Early in the second half, she was called for her fifth and final foul cutting her debut short.
Wright State head coach Mike Bradbury said the plan was to play her 15-20 minutes instead of 11.
“I wanted to play her more minutes, so that was frustrating. The good news is we have a closed scrimmage coming up, so I will be able to play her the exact number of minutes I want to,” Bradbury said.
Freshmen take over
Bradbury started all five of his healthy seniors Saturday. In the waning minutes of Saturday’s exhibition, he let his freshmen take the lead. WSU was without the services of guards Abby Jump and Simone Denham.
“Those first six are set, with the sixth being Richelle (van der Keijl). That won’t change until Simone (Denham) gets back. Those other spots are up for grabs and we’re trying to figure that out,” said Bradbury when asked about the rotations.
The freshmen took the opportunity to show why they each deserve their spots in the rotation. Guard Ciara Patterson led the second half charge draining 3 pointers over the Ashland zone and finding open players on the floor. She finished the game with 13 points and four assists in 17 minutes. Guard Kendyl Hinton also played a very efficient game, going 75 percent from the field and 83 percent from the free throw line. She finished with 12 points in 16 minutes, scoring 10 in the second half.
Forward Lexi Smith and guard JJ Williams added six points each for the Raiders.
Wright State opens the season at Austin Peay on Nov. 14.
