Wright State University
4-8, 1-0HL
Milwaukee
5-7, 0-1HL
Women Rally for Win Over Milwaukee in Horizon League Opener
1/3/2008 12:00:00 PM | Women's Basketball
2008 started like 2007 ended for the Wright State women's basketball team as following a one-point win over Evansville on December 21, the Raiders turned the trick again Thursday night, rallying from a 10-point second-half deficit to defeat the Milwaukee Panthers 57-56 in the Horizon League opener for both teams at the Nutter Center.
WSU led for much of the first half before the Panthers took their first advantage of the night at 14-12 on a Traci Edwards basket with 4:46 remaining in the period. The Raiders were still down just two until Milwaukee closed the half with a 9-4 burst over the final two minutes, all but two of those points coming from the foul line, to go up 27-20 at the break.
A three by Jineen Williams made it 41-31 with 12:56 to play, but Wright State followed by scoring the next 11 points, five coming from Whitney Lewis and four by Shey Peddy, to go back in front.
The Panthers went back up 48-42 on two Jodie McClain foul shots at the 5:36 mark, only to see the Raiders go on a 12-2 run over the next four minutes to regain the lead for good, half of those by LaShawna Thomas. Two Edwards foul shots trimmed the margin to two, but Peddy responded on WSU's next possession with a three just right of the lane to make it 57-52 with 1:19 to play.
Edwards connected on a jumper with just over a minute left and Turquoise McCain made it a one-point game with a steal and fast-break layup, but the Panthers would get no closer as, despite a Raider shot-clock violation with 4.7 seconds left, Milwaukee had a turnover of its own at the 0.2-second mark to close out the game.
After both teams shot 32 percent in the first half, the Raiders heated up to 59 percent over the final 20 minutes to finish at 47 percent overall while Milwaukee ended up at 35 percent. The Panthers hit 16 of 22 from the line to just five of nine for Wright State, but WSU held a 38-30 rebounding advantage and outscored UWM in points in the paint (28-20), in second-chance points (11-8) and fast-break points (10-2).
Thomas led all scorers with 18 for the Raiders, 12 coming in the second half, while Peddy had 12. Three others had nine for WSU, including Lewis, Sierra Crayton and Kanisha Ward, while Crayton also added 11 rebounds.
Edwards paced Milwaukee (5-7, 0-1 Horizon) with 16 points and seven rebounds while McClain had 14 and Williams 12 off the bench.
Wright State, now 4-8 overall and 1-0 in the Horizon League, wraps up the homestand Saturday against Green Bay starting at 1:00.
