Wright State women’s basketball team bounced back from their three-game skid as they returned home to the Nutter Center and defeated the Cleveland State Vikings 81-64 on Thursday, Mar. 3.
After losing in overtime to Detroit (14-14; 10-7 Horizon) at home, the Raiders lost back to back games in Wisconsin last week, losing to first place Green Bay (26-3; 16-1 Horizon) and second place Milwaukee (18-10; 12-5 Horizon).
“It’s frustrating because we played really well up there,” Raiders head coach Mike Bradbury said. “We played really good against Green Bay and we played really good against Milwaukee. When you play well and you still don’t have anything to show for it, it hurts. It was nice to get on the right side of things.”
Wright State (21-9; Horizon 11-6) got on the board 10 seconds into the contest as junior center Richelle van der Keijl grabbed a rebound and put it back up to get the Raiders out to a 2-0 lead. She scored 13 points and grabbed 13 rebounds to give her eight double-doubles on the season.
“She was good tonight, we needed it,” Bradbury said. “When we play Cleveland State, we have an advantage inside and we must be able to take advantage of that, tonight we did.”
Senior guard Kim Demmings tip-toed the baseline to grab a rebound and heaved it down-court to senior guard Symone Denham as she touch-passed it to junior forward Antania Hayes to finish the play and lay it up for two-points.
With 27 seconds remaining in the first quarter, freshman guard Emily Vogelpohl drove to the hoop and connected on a layup on the left side to increase the first quarter lead to 23-5.
WSU shot 44 percent from the field as the Vikings only managed to shoot 13 percent in the first quarter, WSU 23 – CSU 5.
CSU (8-19; 5-12 Horizon) began the second quarter on a 14-4 run that was snapped by a two-point bucket by Demmings with 5:16 remaining to make it a 31-19 lead for Wright State.
Demmings nailed her second three-point basket in less than a minute to increase the Raider lead to 39-22. She had 21 of her 23 points in the first half as the Raiders went into the locker room with a 48-26 lead.
Freshman guard McKenzie Taylor connected from three-point range to give the Raiders a 35 point lead to end the third quarter WSU 74 – CSU 39.
Wright State began the final quarter with four of the five starters on the bench as the Vikings went on a 17-3 run to start the fourth quarter.
“We’re trying to get some other kids playing time and rest some kids,” Bradbury said. “We’re really beat up, we’re just trying to patchwork it up the best we can.”
The Vikings outscored the Raiders 25-7 in the fourth quarter as they were led by freshman forward Ashanti Abshaw, with 14 points and six rebounds.
Demmings and Denham will be honored after the game as Wright State closes out the regular season on senior day on Sunday, Mar. 6 as they take on the Penguins of Youngstown State (18-10; Horizon 9-8). Tip-off is at 1 p.m.
