Women’s Basketball hosts Ohio Christian for Home Opener

Thursday, November 17

Dayton, OH

11 AM

Wright State University

Ohio Christian

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Women’s Basketball hosts Ohio Christian for Home Opener

11/16/2022 3:20:00 PM | Women's Basketball

DAYTON — The Wright State women's basketball program will host Ohio Christian on Thursday, November 17, for its home opener and annual Education Day contest. Tipoff is set for 11 a.m. inside the Nutter Center. Fans can follow the action via live stats or watch on ESPN+.

GAME INFORMATION
Thursday, November 17 - 11 a.m. - Watch - Live Stats - WSU Game Notes

LAST TIME OUT
The Raiders fell to 0-2 on the season with a 102-72 loss at Bowling Green last Monday. Three individuals scored in double figures, led by Emily Chapman with 14 points. Taylor Johnson-Matthews finished with 10 points on 5-of-7 shooting, while Makiya Miller notched 10 points, four assists, and three rebounds. Kacee Baumhower contributed with nine points, six rebounds, and three assists. In total, 11 Raiders found the scoring column, including four freshmen.

Wright State shot an efficient 47 percent (26-of-55) from the field, but were forced to 21 turnovers. BGSU had its way offensively with a 50% (41-of-81) shooting percentage, scoring 20-plus points in each quarter. The home team held substantial advantages in points in the paint (62-36) and second-chance points (16-2).

SCOUTING THE TRAILBLAZERS
The non-conference matchup will mark the first-ever meeting for the two programs. The game will serve as an exhibition for the Trailblazers. Ohio Christian — an NAIA program out of Circleville, Ohio — has gotten off to a 1-5 start to the 2022-23 season, with its lone win coming against Great Lakes Christian College. Senior guard Rachel Bolyard is averaging 17.7 points, 3.7 rebounds, and 2.2 assists per game, while junior guard Haley Cox leads the team with 7.5 rebounds per game.

OCU compiled an 11-12 overall record last year, going 5-11 in the River States Conference. The Trailblazers faced fellow Horizon League school Cleveland State a season ago, falling 104-51.

SHE'S JUST A FRESHMAN
Freshman guard Makiya Miller has scored in double figures in her first two games as a Raider, becoming the first player since 2018 to do so. The Reynoldsburg, Ohio native scored a team-leading 14 points in just 19 minutes in her collegiate debut at Toledo (11/7) and followed with a 10-point showing against Bowling Green (11/14).

SHOWING OFF RANGE
The Raiders rank 54th in the country and second in the Horizon League with 8.5 3-pointers per game. Isabelle Bolender and Bryce Nixon are tied for first on the team with a trio of threes apiece.

NEW-LOOK RAIDERS
This year's women's basketball roster features 12 newcomers, including five upperclassmen transfers and seven freshmen.

VETERAN PRESENCE
Wright State's five upperclassmen transfers bring a wealth of experience to the Raiders with a combined 370 games of collegiate basketball, including 156 starts. Bryce Nixon played in 33 games as a freshman at Arizona, the third-most by a first-year player in program history.

Emily Chapman - 107 games (74 starts) over four seasons at Cedarville
Bryce Nixon - 55 games (6 starts) over two seasons at Santa Clara — 50 games over two seasons at Arizona
Cara Vankempen - 75 games (24 starts) over three seasons at Valparaiso
Isabelle Bolender - 60 games (52 starts) over three seasons at Cedarville
Rachel Loobie - 23 games over two seasons at Central Michigan

CEDARVILLE TO WRIGHT STATE
Emily Chapman and Isabelle Bolender played under current Raider head coach Kari Hoffman for multiple seasons at nearby Cedarville University. Chapman, a two-time All-GMAC selection, earned NCCAA All-America Second Team honors in Hoffman's final season with the Yellowjackets after averaging 13.9 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 3.7 assists. Bolender averaged 11.9 points on 51% shooting in 60 career games at Cedarville, earning GMAC Freshman of the Year in 2020 and NCCAA Midwest Region First Team accolades the following season.

BACK FOR YEAR 3
Channing Chappell enters her third season with the Raiders after leading the team in minutes per game (33.1) and free throw percentage (.792) over 23 starts a year ago. The junior guard reached double-figure scoring in seven games, highlighted by 18 points on 6-of-11 shooting against Bradley.

Chappell tallied a career-high 22 points against Robert Morris during the 2020-21 season, going a perfect 7-for-7 from the field, 6-for-6 from beyond the arc, and 2-for-2 at the charity stripe.

WORTH THE WAIT
Sophomore guard Kacee Baumhower joined the Raiders as a mid-year transfer from St. Bonaventure in January 2022, making her ineligible to compete for the remainder of the 2021-22 season. The projected starting guard boasted a prosperous career at Sylvania Northview High School, as she was a three-time Division I All-Ohio selection and finished with a school-record 1,378 points. As a senior, Baumhower averaged 18.7 points per game en route to 2021 All-Northwest District Co-Player of the Year honors.

BASKETBALL RUNS IN THE FAMILY
Freshman guard Lauren Scott is the granddaughter of College Basketball Hall of Fame coach Gary Williams, who led the Maryland men's basketball program to its first-ever NCAA Tournament Championship in 2002. The current Big Ten Network college basketball analyst also served as head coach for American (1978-82), Boston College (1982-86), and Ohio State (1986-89).

EARLY TESTS
WSU will square off against a pair of teams that reached the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 last season in Ohio State and Tennessee. Wright State will close its non-conference slate at the Hawk Classic from December 20-21, hosted by Saint Joseph's in Philadelphia, Pa.

HL SLATE
Each Horizon League team will play a 20-game double round-robin schedule. Wright State's conference schedule gets underway at the Nutter Center on December 2 versus Robert Morris and concludes with home games against Oakland on February 23 and Detroit Mercy on February 25.

BUILT IN OHIO
Six of WSU's seven total freshmen played high school basketball in Ohio — two from Greater Dayton, two from Greater Columbus, and two from Greater Cleveland. In total, ten individuals on Wright State's 15-player roster are from Ohio.

FAMILY OF ATHLETES
Bryce Nixon is no stranger to success in collegiate athletics, as her mother Shelley was a three-time All-American running track at the University of Texas, while her father Chuck played football at San Diego State University. On top of that, her uncle Troy played in the NFL for the San Francisco 49ers, and her uncle Brandon was an All-American basketball player for UC San Diego.

LIFE ON THE ROAD
Wright State opens the season with four of its first five games on the road, punctuated by a non-conference contest at Ohio State on November 23. Following a pair of home games against Horizon League opponents, the Raiders will face six road matchups over a seven-game stretch, including a trip to Tennessee on December 11 and the Hawk Classic from December 20-21 in Philadelphia, Pa.

YEAR NO. 2
The Raiders are set for their second season under the direction of head coach Kari Hoffman, who was introduced as the eighth head coach in program history in May 2021. Hoffman joined the Raiders after serving as the head coach at nearby Cedarville University for five seasons, where she won 106 games, led the Yellow Jackets to three regular season conference titles, and was named the Great Midwest Athletic Conference Coach of the Year in 2018 and 2021. Hoffman also earned NCCAA Midwest Region Coach of the Year honors in 2019 and 2020. In addition to Hoffman, assistant coaches John Leonzo, Megan Leuzinger, Patrick Bain, and Abby Wolford enter their second season at Wright State.

GET YOUR TICKETS
Season tickets for the Raider women's basketball campaign are on sale through WSURaiders.com or by contacting the ticket office at (937) 775-4936, starting as low as $40. Single-game tickets are as low as $5, with general admission seating throughout the arena.

PRESEASON POLL
The Raiders finished tenth in the 2022 Horizon League preseason poll with 26 points, which the league's 11 head coaches voted on. Youngstown State (118 points) was selected to win the conference with a league-high eight first-place votes, followed by Green Bay (106 points, 2 first-place votes) and Cleveland State (102 points, 1 first-place vote) in the second and third slots.

UP NEXT
After Ohio Christian, the Raiders will face a road test at Ohio State on Wednesday, November 23.