Wright State University
3-0
Western Kentucky
0-4
Women Beat Western Kentucky, 57 in Second Half
11/22/2011 5:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Down 30-16 with 5:35 remaining in the first half, the Wright State women's basketball team outscored Western Kentucky 70-36 the rest of the way for a 86-66 win Tuesday night in Bowling Green, Kentucky.
A Shaunda Sandifer three gave the Raiders an early 5-4 lead, but the Hilltoppers followed with 10 straight points and later went up 30-16 on a Teranie Thomas three-point play with 5:35 to play in the first half.
A WSU 13-3 run, however, over the next three minutes, seven coming from Kim Demmings, cut the deficit to four before Western Kentucky tallied the final four points to lead 37-29 at the break.
Both teams shot 33 percent from the field in the first half and had three three-pointers, but WKU was also 12 of 19 at the foul line compared to six of eight for WSU.
Jasmine Johnson put the Hilltoppers up 10 to start the second half, but Wright State responded with a 19-8 run over the next five minutes, nine by Demmings and six from Courtney Boyd, to go back in front 48-47 with 13:06 to play.
Western Kentucky tied it with a free throw before the Raiders broke it open with 13 unanswered, capped off by a pair of Kayla Lamotte threes.
The Hilltoppers would get no closer than 10 the rest of the way as WSU closed out the contest with a 15-5 burst over the final 5:29 to pick up its first-ever win over a Sun Belt Conference program in five tries.
The Raiders scorched the nets in scoring 57 points the final 20 minutes, hitting 22 of 33 shots overall, nine of 15 threes and four of six foul shots. The nine threes eclipse the eight made against Valparaiso last January 8 at WSU's Nutter Center for the most ever in a half and the 12 overall were just one short of the 13 made in that Valparaiso contest.
Wright State shot 51 percent overall while holding Western Kentucky to 28 percent. The Raiders also led 32-24 in points in the paint and 16-9 in points off of turnovers.
For the second time in her three-game college career, Demmings led WSU with 25 points, 16 coming in the second half. Boyd added 17, all coming after halftime, while Sandifer posted a double-double of 10 points and 10 rebounds.
LaTeira Owens paced Western Kentucky (0-4) with a double-double of 25 points and 13 rebounds.
Wright State, which improves to 3-0 for the just the second time in its 25-year history of being in Division I (2004-05), faces Missouri (4-0) in battle of unbeatens Saturday in Columbia, Missouri, starting at 5:00 Eastern.
