Wright State women’s basketball team kicked off their Horizon League Conference schedule with a 73 – 62 win at the Nutter Center on Wednesday, Dec. 30 against UIC.
“It was good,” head coach Mike Bradbury said. “It’s a new deal, a new season now.”
“For three quarters we really defended and we rebounded, we got a little sloppy in the fourth quarter, but for the most part we followed the plan,” Bradbury said. “We defended and we rebounded and that’s important.”
Freshman guard Emily Vogelpohl led all scorers with 20 points adding five assists and five rebounds.
Vogelpohl hit 3-4 free throws in the final minute to hold off a late surge by UIC. Despite a 32 point fourth quarter by the Flames, the Raiders were able to hang on for a victory.
When asked what she was thinking at the line, Vogelpohl said “Just put it in, we work on free throws every day.”
The Raiders got on the board 1:30 into the first quarter with a short jumper by senior guard Kim Demmings. WSU went on a 6-0 run to bring the total to 8-1 Raiders.
Freshman guard Mackenzie Taylor connected from three with 1:35 remaining in the first quarter. Wright State had seven different players score in the opening quarter. The score at the end of one was WSU 17 – UIC 10.
To open the second quarter the Raiders went on a 4:30 scoring drought, which was ended by a basket from junior forward Antania Hayes. Hayes scored eight points in the quarter.
Demmings cut to the right of the hoop and connected on a lay-up as time expired, ending the half. Putting the Raiders up by 11, making it WSU 28 – UIC 17.
Vogelpohl hit back to back three pointers early in the second half, giving the Raiders an 18 point lead.
UIC went on a 7-0 run that was ended by Demmings connecting on a three with 15 seconds remaining in the third quarter bringing the score to WSU 49 – UIC 30.
After a basket by senior guard Symone Denham to start the fourth quarter, UIC went on a 5-0 run cutting the lead to 16. Hayes launched a full-court pass to Demmings for a layup on the inbound to end the run, bringing the lead back up to 18.
Sophomore guard JJ Williams hit a free throw to complete a three point play and came back down the court hitting back to back shots to keep the Raiders up by 14.
Hayes was fouled with 2:07 left and connected on 1-2 to keep the Raiders ahead by 12.
UIC’s Ruvanna Campbell hit a field goal to cut the lead to 10 with 1:09 left in the game. Marita Emanuel-Carr also connected for two with 0:45 left cutting the deficit to eight, but the late free throws by Vogelpohl helped seal the deal for the Raiders.
In addition to Vogelpohl’s 20 point effort, Hayes added 15 points and 11 rebounds for the Raiders. UIC’s leading scorer was Emanuel-Carr with 19 points followed by Campbell with 14 adding on 16 rebounds.
Wright State (10-3; 1-0) will be back in action at the Nutter Center on Friday Jan. 1 hosting Valparaiso (5-7; 1-0).Tip-off will be at 2 p.m.
