Wright State went on the road to Milwaukee and Valparaiso last week and came back with two conference wins extending its winning streak to three straight. WSU is 3-1 to begin Horizon League play this season and 14-4 overall.
The Raiders won last Wednesday 80-57 in Milwaukee with career-high performances by Abby Jump with 15 points off of the bench and Symone Denham with 11. The Raiders shot 53 percent from the floor in the second half out-scoring the Panthers 49-32. Breanna Stucke nearly had a double-double with nine points and nine rebounds.
The Raiders had 12 more points in the paint than the Panthers with 23 points off of turnovers and 14 second-chance points. Defensively, they held the second leading scorer in the conference, Ashley Green, to five points less than her season average of 20.7 going into the game.
“I thought we played with a lot of energy. Defensively we were good and we scored points off of our defense,” WSU head coach Mike Bradbury said.
Horizon League points leader Tay’ler Mingo continued her great play last week with 23 points against Milwaukee and 31 against Valpo. She now averages 23.2 points per game this season.
On Monday, Mingo was named the Horizon League’s Player of the Week.
In the game at Valpo, the Raiders scored 48 first half points and went on to win 80-62. Mingo led all scorers while teammates Stucke and Courtney Boyd each added 11. Defensively, WSU had 10 steals in the game but tied the rebound margin with the Crusaders which has been a focal point for the team this season.
“We need to continue to work on rebounding and get better at that area,” Bradbury said.
Thursday, the Raiders will head to Youngstown State who is perfect at home this season with six wins. The Penguins are 13-3 overall this season with a 2-1 conference record coming off of a 79-65 win over Cleveland State last Thursday. Wapakoneta native Heidi Schlegel leads the Penguins with 15.1 points per game this year.
Last season, the Raiders beat the Penguins three times and ended their season in the semifinals of the conference tournament by a score of 98-70. Mingo scored 26 points in the game and Tayler Stanton contributed a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds.
The Raiders will host Cleveland State at the Nutter Center on Saturday at 2 p.m. Led by Cori Coleman, 16.5 points per game, and Imani Gordon, 15.8 points per game, The Vikings are 10-6 overall on the year with a conference record of two wins and one loss. The Raiders lost both games to the Vikings last season and have only gotten one win in the last two seasons against them.
“It’s going to be tough,” Bradbury said. “We have to go on the road again and play some more. I don’t think there is any secret formula. We need to get back to work and keep trying to get better.”
