Wright State University
3-8
Evansville
5-5
Women Defeat Evansville on Peddy Game-Winner
12/21/2007 12:00:00 PM | Women's Basketball
In a game that featured 10 ties and 13 lead changes, the final lead change came in the closing second as a buzzer-beating jumper in the lane by Shey Peddy gave Wright State a 71-70 win over Evansville in women's basketball action at the Nutter Center Friday night.
Evansville led for most of the first half, the biggest margin being 24-14 following an Anaris Sickles layup with 9:18 remaining in the period. The Raiders, however, scored the next 10 points over a four-minute span to tie the game, half of those coming from Peddy.
The Purple Aces again built a lead, this time at 35-28 with under a minute to play, only to see WSU cut the deficit to one at the break by scoring the final six points.
Both teams shot the ball well over the first 20 minutes as Wright State was at 61 percent compared to Evansville's 48 percent. The Aces, though, had six more shot attempts thanks to forcing 16 turnovers while committing 11, which also resulted in a 17-13 edge in points off of turnovers.
Neither team had more than a three-point advantage in the second half until a 6-0 burst by LaShawna Thomas gave the Raiders a 54-47 lead. Evansville, however, answered right back with eight straight of its own to go back in front, including threes from Ashley Austin and Rebekah Parker.
WSU broke a 59-59 tie with a Peddy layup and a pair of foul shots each from Thomas and Kanisha Ward, but again the Aces responded with seven in a row on a pair of Jillian Palan layups and another Parker three.
Two Sierra Crayton foul shots at the 1:59 mark put the Raiders up 67-66, only to see Evansville's Shannon Novosel hit two of her own with 1:04 left to give the Aces the lead back. Crayton hit two more at the 44.3-second mark to make it 69-68, but Evansville looked to be in position for the win as Novosel also hit two more with 24 seconds left and the Aces had possession after the Raiders missed a three attempt.
A turnover, however, gave Wright State another chance on its side of the court at the 4.7-second mark and the Raiders took advantage as Peddy took the inbounds pass from Ward, dribbled to the right side of the lane and banked in a short jumper for the game-winner just before time expired.
The Raiders continued their hot shooting in the second half, connecting for 55 percent to finish the night at 58 percent overall, while Evansville cooled to 33 percent and ended up at 41 percent overall.
The Aces led in points in the paint (30-26), points off of turnovers (29-24), second-chance points (17-9), fast-break points (10-6) and bench scoring (20-3) and also hit 18 of 24 free throws to WSU's 14 of 19, but hit just five of 10 from the stripe the final 6:43 while the Raiders were eight of 10 over that span.
All five Wright State starters scored nine or more points, led by Peddy's 16 points along with eight rebounds and five assists. Thomas also scored 16 while Whitney Lewis had 15 along with eight rebounds, Crayton 12 and Ward nine.
Parker led Evansville (5-5) with 15 points and six assists while Novosel had 12 points and six boards and Courtney Felke 10.
Wright State, now 3-8 on the season, will be off for nearly two weeks before opening the 2008 and Horizon League portions of its schedule on Thursday, January 3, against preseason favorite Milwaukee at the Nutter Center. Tip-off is at 7:00.
