Wright State University
6-11, 3-3HL
Valparaiso
8-9, 3-3HL
Women Rally Past Valparaiso 51-50
1/24/2008 12:00:00 PM | Women's Basketball
For the third time this season, the Wright State women's basketball team prevailed by one point as the Raiders outscored Valparaiso 12-2 the final 7:04, including a Shey Peddy jumper with 5.5 seconds remaining, to pull out a 51-50 Horizon League win over the Crusaders Thursday night at the Nutter Center.
Both teams came out firing early as WSU went up 16-11 on a LaShawna Thomas jumper at the 12:08 mark of the first half. The Raiders, however, managed just six points the rest of the period as Valparaiso regained the lead at 24-22 on a Leah Hochstetler three with 4:19 left and took a 28-22 advantage into the break on back-to-back baskets by Agnieszka Kulaga.
The Crusaders continued to build on the lead in the early going of the second half and were up as much as 40-30 following two Kulaga free throws with 12:03 to play. Valparaiso maintained the margin over the next five minutes as Kulaga layup made it 48-39 at the 7:04 mark.
An Erica Richardson basket, however, started the Raiders on their comeback and, after a Charne Dixon layup, Richardson added two more of her own to cut the deficit to 48-47 with 2:54 left.
Kulaga pushed the margin back up to three with a pair of foul shots at the 2:11 mark, only to see Wright State draw within one again on a Thomas jumper. After three scoreless possessions, two by Valparaiso, the stage was set for Peddy, as she drove down the left side of the lane and hit a jumper with 5.5 seconds left to give WSU the lead for good.
The Crusaders had one last chance, but Peddy stripped the ball away from Kulaga at midcourt to close out the game.
The Raiders are now 4-2 at home this season, with three of those victories coming by one point (71-70 against Evansville on December 21 and 57-56 versus Milwaukee on January 3). Peddy has provided the winning score all three times as she also hit a last-second basket versus Evansville and hit a three with just over a minute remaining to put WSU up 57-52 against Milwaukee.
After shooting 33 percent in the first half, Wright State shot 55 percent the final 20 minutes to finish at 43 percent overall. It was the just the opposite for Valparaiso as the Crusaders shot just 25 percent in the second half after a 46 percent first half to end up 37 percent. The Raiders also held a 32-18 edge in points in the paint.
Four Wright State players scored in double figures, led by Whitney Lewis with 14 and Peddy with 12 to go along with five assists and six steals. Thomas added 11 while Richardson had 10 points and five rebounds off the bench.
Kulaga posted a double-double of 18 points and 10 rebounds for Valparaiso (8-9, 3-3 Horizon) and also dished out three assists, but no other Crusaders scored more than seven.
Wright State, now 6-11 overall and 3-3 in the Horizon League, hosts Butler on Saturday starting at 1:00.
