DAYTON - The Wright State women's basketball team begins the
Kari Hoffman Era and the 2021-22 season on Tuesday night, as the Raiders travel to take on Bradley. Tipoff time is slated for 7:30 p.m. ET, and fans can follow the action via live stats or watch on ESPN3.
Wright State opens the season with its first four contests - including an early pair of Horizon League games - on the road, with the home opener coming on November 24 against Xavier.
TUESDAY: WATCH ON ESPN3 | FOLLOW LIVE STATS | GAME NOTES
ALLOW US TO INTRODUCE OURSELVES
The 2021-22 season will be a season of change for Wright State, as
Kari Hoffman takes over at the helm of the program for the departed Katrina Merriweather, who left the Raider program after five seasons. Wright State returns nine players from last season's NCAA squad, but only four that averaged over 14 minutes per game.
Jada Roberson (6.9 ppg) and
Shamarre Hale (5.4 ppg) were the only two of the returning group to average over five points per contest in 2020-21. The Raiders did not have a player named to last season's Horizon League awards amongst its returning players, but both Roberson and Hale were named to the All-Freshman team following the 2019-20 campaign, with Hale earning Freshman of the Year honors.
HYPING UP HOFFMAN
First year Raider head coach
Kari Hoffman is no stranger to success, as she averaged 21.2 wins per season at Cedarville University and has won 74 percent of her games in career. Hoffman won 106 games at Cedarville as head coach from 2016-2021, leading the Yellow Jackets to three regular season conference titles. She was named the Great Midwest Athletic Conference Coach of the Year in 2018 and 2021, and also earned NCCAA Midwest Region Coach of the Year honors in 2019 and 2020.
Under Hoffman, Cedarville had five NCCAA All-Americans, including one NCCAA Midwest Region Player of the Year, and nine All-NCCAA Midwest Region players. Hoffman coached 13 All-Great Midwest Athletic Conference players, including a pair of All-Conference Defensive players and one Great Midwest Athletic Conference Freshman of the Year. Academically, Hoffman has mentored 20 NCCAA Scholar-Athletes and 31 All- Great Midwest Athletic Conference Academic Team players.
BRADLEY BREAKDOWN
Bradley finished 17-12 last season and was 10-8 in the Missouri Valley Conference. This will mark the second-straight season the two teams have met after a Bradley win inside the Nutter Center last December. The Raiders trail 1-2 overall in the short series. Last season's meeting was the season opener for Wright State, with
Destyne Jackson turning in 11 points in what was her collegiate debut to lead all this season's returning Raiders. Wright State led by four after one quarter, but a seven-point scoring advantage for Bradley in the second quarter proved to be the difference.
ON THE HORIZON
Wright State received 72 total votes and was picked in a tie for seventh in the Horizon League preseason poll, announced on October.
WHAT'S THE SCORING LOOK LIKE?
Among its nine returners, seven played in 21 or more of the 27 total contests. Behind Roberson (6.9 ppg) and Hale (5.4 ppg),
Jada Wright shot 37 percent in 26 contests,
Channing Chappell connected at a 33 percent clip overall and at a 30 percent rate from three-point range in 21 games, and
KK White shot 30 percent from the floor in 25 contests.
LET'S TALK ABOUT LAST MARCH, JUST FOR A SECOND
The Raiders won their third Horizon League tournament title in program history by winning three games by an average of 13.7 points to make their third NCAA appearance. No. 13 seeded Wright State defeated No. 4 Arkansas in the opening round, 66-62, for the first NCAA Tournament win in Wright State basketball history (men's or women's) and the first NCAA victory for the Horizon League since 2012 (Green Bay). Among returning players,
Destyne Jackson averaged a leading 26.5 minutes across the two NCAA tournament contests, with
Jada Wright averaging 25.3 minutes.
Jada Roberson averaged 19.7 minutes, with
Shamarre Hale playing 16.3 minutes,
Channing Chappell at 8.8 minutes,
KK White averaging 6.6 minutes and
Diamond Stokes playing 2.5 minutes. Roberson's 6.5 points per game over the two NCAA games led the charge for this season's returners, with Hale adding 5.0 ppg and Jackson chipping in 3.5 ppg.
