Womens Basketball | Photo by Bethany Althauser | The Wright State Guardian
This past Tuesday, the Wright State University women’s basketball team returned home to host the Falcons of Bowling Green in front of a record-breaking crowd.
Coming into the game
Wright State entered the match after defeating Eastern Illinois last week. Coming into Tuesday, the Raiders held a 5-0 record at home, marking the eighth time in program history the team started 5-0.
The Falcons came into Dayton in the middle of a gruesome road trip. BG took on No. 4 Iowa before traveling to Dayton. BG would go on to play the No. 1 ranked Gamecocks of South Carolina after its showdown with the Raiders.
Tuesday’s game set records, as it was the highest attended WSU women’s game where 7,574 fans attended. Over 7,000 of those fans were elementary and middle school students from Miami Valley schools.
“It was an unbelievable atmosphere out there. Thank you to all the kids that were cheering for us,” Head Coach Kari Hoffman stated. “They did their part. It was a bad day to shoot bad. I think our players could hear them, could feed off their energy. It was a fun environment and a record-breaking crowd is really cool to play in front of.”
A slow start
It was a slow start to the game for WSU, shooting just over 22 percent from the floor in the first quarter.
Trailing 11-2 in the first, WSU mounted a hard fought comeback to bring themselves back within three points with a 13-10 score.
The second quarter did not bode well for the Raiders, getting outscored 13-4 before the break. The Raiders were unable to hit a three-point shot in the second, going 0-5 from deep.
The Raiders came out strong in the third quarter, converting on over 66 percent of its shots. WSU was able to draw within 12 down the stretch.
Morgan Sharps of Bowling Green scored 13 of her 16 points in the third quarter to help propel the Falcons to victory.
Bowling Green would take down the Raiders by a final score of 69-48.
Takeaways
Layne Ferrell led the Raiders with 16 points on the day, marking her sixth game this season in double figures. Rachel Loobie added 14 points to go along with six rebounds, a steal and two blocks, going up against bigger post players.
“Obviously, I’m not the biggest body, but I feel like staying consistent and showing up ready to work, it’s more of a mindset thing over a body thing,” Loobie mentioned. “I’m down there trying my best and working hard.”
Bowling Green marked the final destination on the revenge tour for WSU, as the team found much better success this year against opponents who the team struggled against just last season.
“There is a big mindset difference,” Loobie added. “This year, the mindset has changed from ‘we could win’ to ‘we should win.’ We have worked really hard all summer, all preseason, to prepare for this.”
The Raiders will travel to West Virginia to take on the Mountaineers on Dec. 18. The game will begin at 10 a.m. and will stream on ESPN+.
WSU will return home on Jan. 5 to begin its Horizon League slate against Milwaukee.
