Wright State senior Courtney Boyd has faced tragedy, injuries and adversity over the last few years at Wright State. On Thursday, she showed signs of a comeback. After Youngstown State upset Wright State last month, the Raiders earned a piece of redemption against the Penguins as WSU won 92-55 in the Nutter Center.
Led by Horizon League leading scorer Tay’ler Mingo’s 23 points, and Boyd’s 19-point effort, the Raiders played one of their most complete games of the year in front of nearly 1,000 school kids.
Seven assists and seven steals boosted Mingo’s performance. Boyd scored her 19 points off of shooting 7-for-10 from the field and 5-for-7 from 3. Her 19-point effort came a week after she scored a season-high 25 points at Oakland.
Boyd is showing signs of the spark she provided Wright State in her freshman and sophomore years. She is turning her senior year into a comeback season. After being relegated to bench duty last season following a missed season due to an ACL injury, Boyd re-entered the starting lineup in November but continued to struggle to find her stroke.
After starting 49 games in her first two seasons at Wright State, she only started three games last year in a season in which she found out her father died. Following the adversity she faced, she struggled to play a key role for the Raiders averaging just 1.9 points a game.
To start this season, Boyd was struggling to find the swagger she had her first two years at WSU. In the non-conference, she shot 26 percent from the field and 22.4 percent from beyond the arc. But when Horizon League play began last month, Boyd hit her stride. She has scored in double figures in all eight conference games, shooting 44.8 percent from the field and 45 percent for 3.
“She is playing well and for us to play well, she is going to have to continue to do that,” Wright State head coach Mike Bradbury said as he was knocking on a wooden table.
She is averaging 14 points a game in Horizon League play.
“I have been practicing hard and I think it is starting to pay off,” Boyd said. “I am having fun.”
Bradbury said that Boyd kept her confidence while she struggled, and now is being rewarded as those shots are going in.
“(She brings) experience, she has been here five years,” Bradbury said. “I am telling you she can play any position, play anywhere defensively, she is long, she is athletic, she has a great attitude. She is not about Courtney Boyd.
“This kid sat around here last year and didn’t get to play and came right back with a great attitude.”
Thursday marked Wright State’s first game in a week after the Raiders fired 108 points, which marked a program record in a conference game. Bradbury opted to give his players three days off in a row to get his team rested for the stretch run.
“We were rested and we were ready,” Bradbury said. “We took three days off so that helped us. It came at a good time. And from an energy and effort standpoint, we were at a very high level. From an execution standpoint, this was one of our better games.”
Four of Wright State’s five seniors scored in double figures. Wright State senior forwards Breanna Stucke and Tayler Stanton both contributed double-double performances. Stucke scored 10 points and had 10 rebounds. Stanton had 15 points along with 10 boards, nine of which came off of the offensive glass.
Sophomore Richelle van der Keijl came one point from notching a double-double as she scored nine points along with 10 rebounds.
“I think you have your best teams when you have juniors,” Bradbury said. “I think sometimes when you have seniors, they have a foot out the door. This bunch is different; this bunch is special. I still think they have both feet in.”
After the two squads were tied at 11, the Raiders went on an 11-2 run to build their lead. Including the 11-2 run, Wright State went on a 28-9 in the first half. The Raiders’ largest lead in the first half was 24 points.
WSU led at halftime 48-27 shooting 57.1 percent from the field and outrebounding YSU 20-12. Mingo had 12 first-half points; Stanton had 10.
The Raiders started the second half on a 13-0 run to take a 34-point lead. Wright State led by as many as 38 points in the second half.
Wright State’s (17-5, 6-2) win puts the Raiders a game behind first-place Green Bay who was stunned at home last night marking the Phoenix’s first loss in Horizon League play. The Raiders play at Green Bay next week. Even with the result, Bradbury does not think his squad could catch Green Bay.
“We know we’re not very good, we know we have to be very detailed oriented and stay with the task at hand and the task at hand today was Youngstown State,” Bradbury said. “No body is catching Green Bay. We just have to make sure we stay in the top half.”
