Wright State University
6-2
George Washington
5-2
Women Upset #24/23 George Washington
11/28/2015 5:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Down as much as 16 in the first quarter, the Wright State women's basketball team rallied in the second half to upset #24/23 George Washington 77-71 in the final game of Lone Star Showcase Saturday in Cedar Park, Texas.
The Raiders led 3-2 early on a Richelle van der Keijl tip-in, only to see the Colonials follow with a 25-8 run to build a 27-11 advantage with 2:07 remaining in the opening quarter. GW hit 12 of 20 shots, including three of five three-pointers, in the first period.
WSU began its comeback in the second quarter, trimming the deficit to 38-30 on a Kim Demmings three and trailed 42-33 at the break on an Antania Hayes three-point play with just over a minute remaining.
Wright State shot 33 percent in the opening 20 minutes compared to 51 percent for George Washington.
A Demmings jumper closed the margin to 44-38 at the 7:09 mark of the third period, but the Raiders still trailed 55-48 heading into the final quarter.
Jonquel Jones put GW up 58-48 on a basket with 7:23 to play, only to see WSU answer with a 12-4 run, capped off by an Emily Vogelpohl three-point play, to make it 62-60 at the 4:47 mark. Jones broke that string with another basket before the Raiders tied the score at 64 with 3:51 left on a Demmings jumper and two Vogelpohl free throws.
Jones again answered for the Colonials with a three-point play of her own, but that turned out to be the final lead of the game for George Washington as Wright State tallied the next six points to go up 70-67, including a Vogelpohl runner with 2:29 to play to put the Raiders in front.
Jones scored her 10th point of the fourth quarter on a putback with 53 seconds left to make it a one-point game, but Demmings followed with the clincher as she drilled a three from the top of the circle as the shot clock was winding down to make it 73-69.
Two foul shots at the 14.4-second mark drew the Colonials to within two, but they would get no closer as the Raiders closed out the upset with two free throws from Demmings and Hayes in the final seconds.
It is just the second win over a ranked team in the history of the WSU program, the other being a 73-70 decision over #16 Green Bay at the Wright State Nutter Center on January 25, 2003.
Wright State shot 46 percent from the field in the second half, including three of six three-pointers, and made all seven free throw attempts while George Washington shot just 25 percent overall, missed all 10 of its three-point tries, and was seven of 11 at the stripe. The Raiders also led in points in the paint (34-30) and points off of turnovers (17-7).
Demmings led all scorers with a season-high 32 points, with 14 coming in the fourth quarter and 21 in the second half. The 32 is the fifth-highest total for the senior guard in her career and the highest since she had 36 at Oakland on February 18, 2014.
Vogelpohl tied a season-high with 17 points and had seven rebounds while Hayes had 14 points and seven points and van der Keijl chipped in 12 rebounds.
Kelli Prange led George Washington (5-2) with 19 points off the bench while Jones, coming off of a 23 point, 26 rebound performance in a double overtime win against Iowa on Friday, posted a double-double of 17 points and 19 rebounds and Caira Washington had 14 points.
Wright State (6-2) will now play seven of its next eight games at home, starting on Friday, December 4, with a 5:00 contest against the Butler Bulldogs. That will be the first game of a doubleheader as the WSU men's team takes on Georgia State at 7:30.
