Women’s Basketball vs. Green Bay | Photo by Qusai Takuri | The Wright State Guardian
Wright State University (WSU) Women’s Basketball struggled through the last two games of a three-game homestand this week, falling to the Green Bay Phoenix (GB) 51-73 and to the Milwaukee Panthers (MKE) 55-80.
The Raiders were dominated off the glass in both games, with GB totaling 23 offensive rebounds throughout the game, and MKE winning the rebound battle 46-28.
While the team put together some solid quarters with some expert three-point shooting, including a 20-6 run against MKE, they simply were not able to keep up with their opponents through a full 40-minute game.
“We’ve been telling them there’s so many games on our schedule that we feel are winnable,” Kari Hoffman, head coach for WSU, said. “And you know, it’s just a matter of putting two ends together.”
Off the glass
In previous years, rebounding has been a core of WSU’s identity. However, this year the Raiders struggled off the glass in most of their games, with their opponents on average out rebounding them by 6.5 rebounds per game.
This was especially striking in the game against GB, where the Phoenix totaled 61 rebounds to WSU’s 39, with 23 of GB’s rebounds from the Raiders’ own basket.
“They absolutely killed us on the glass,” Hoffman said after the game against GB. “You know, 23 offensive rebounds. You’re not gonna win a game with 23 offensive rebounds.”
While GB and MKE only scored 15 points apiece off of their offensive rebounds, their struggles off of rebounding only wore WSU down and made defending harder, allowing their opponents over 150 total points through both games.
“Luckily, they only had 15 points off of that, but it sure made the game really hard to continue to defend their stuff,” Hoffman said.
In the future, rebounding will be a big focus on what WSU needs to improve on in practice.
Saving from range
While the Raiders have struggled all year on the defensive end and in rebounding, their three-point shooting has kept them in some games that looked unwinnable.
MKE caught the Raiders asleep at the start of their game, jumping out to a 27-13 lead after just the first quarter. But WSU brought the game back to a tie at 33, after making seven three-pointers in the first quarter and a half
The Raiders got those 21 points on 70 percent shooting from range, showing that when WSU gets hot from the three-point line, teams will often need to guard past the perimeter to stop their sharpshooters.
WSU will look to shake off these losses with two games on the road next week, taking on Cleveland State on Thursday at 7 p.m., and Purdue Fort Wayne on Saturday at 2 p.m.
