Wright State University
15-15
Valparaiso (Quarterfinals)
16-14
Women Rally for Win at Valparaiso in Horizon League Quarterfinals
3/11/2009 12:00:00 PM | Women's Basketball
Wright State trailed by eight with 10 minutes to play, but outscored Valparaiso 23-10 the rest of the way as the Raiders defeated the Crusaders 64-59 in the quarterfinals of the 2009 Speedway Horizon League Women's Basketball Championship at Valparaiso Wednesday night.
WSU was in control early, jumping out to a 17-8 lead at the 9:14 mark thanks to a 9-1 run, six of those coming from Maria Bennett. Valpo, though, scored the next seven points to close to within two and later outscored the Raiders 7-0 over the final 3:50 to take a 27-23 halftime advantage.
The Crusaders shot 52 percent in the first half compared to 40 percent for Wright State and held a slight 14-13 rebounding edge.
A LaShawna Thomas fast-break layup put the Raiders back in front 39-38 with 13:52 to play, only to see Valparaiso respond with an 11-2 run, six by Lauren Kenney, to take its biggest lead of the game at 49-41 at the 10:07 mark.
Wright State, though, scored the next eight points over a four-minute span and eventually tied the score at 51 on a Ta-myra Davis layup with 4:21 left. Another Davis basket put the Raiders up for good at the 1:58 mark and, after a miss on Valpo's next possession, Shey Peddy delivered the big blow, a three from the right wing just before the shot clock expired with 1:10 remaining.
Following a WSU steal, Peddy missed the front end of a one-and-one at the 52.1-second mark, but Davis came up with the offensive rebound and Peddy hit one of two with 47.3 seconds left to make it 59-54.
Agnieszka Kulaga made two free throws with 44 seconds to play to draw the Crusaders to within one possession, but a Peddy foul shot, a fast-break basket from Thomas off of a Valparaiso missed shot and two from the stripe by Bennett put the Raiders up 64-56 with 17.7 seconds left.
The win was just the second road win in a conference tournament in WSU history, the other being a 82-65 decision at Detroit in the quarterfinal round of the 2000 Midwestern Collegiate Conference tournament. The Raiders have won three tournament games away from home all-time, the other being last year's semifinal win over Milwaukee in Green Bay.
Both teams shot the ball well in the second half as Wright State hit for 52 percent to finish at 46 percent overall while Valparaiso was at 50 percent the final 20 minutes in ending at 51 percent for the game. The Raiders, though, took nine more shots as they held a 33-20 rebounding advantage, 18-7 on the offensive end, which resulted in a 16-3 differential in second-chance points. WSU was also 12 of 18 at the foul line compared to eight of 11 for the Crusaders.
Davis led the Raiders with 17 points, 12 in the second half, while Thomas added 16, 12 coming after halftime, and Peddy 12 along with six steals. Bennett chipped in eight off the bench as the Wright State reserves outscored the Valparaiso bench 11-0.
Kulaga paced all scorers with 19 for Valparaiso (16-14) while Kenney and Aimee Litka each had 14.
Wright State (15-15) now advances to the semifinals on Friday, March 13, at 9:00 Eastern against #1 seed and host Green Bay (27-3). The winner of that game will take on the winner of the other semifinal between #3 Cleveland State and #7 Milwaukee for the championship on Sunday, March 15, at 1:00 Dayton time, again in Green Bay.
