LAS VEGAS – The Wright State women's basketball team got off to a strong start on Friday night and wrapped up action at the Holiday Hoops Tournament in Las Vegas with a 66-61 victory over Presbyterian.
 
Wright State (7-6, 1-1 Horizon) now has a week off before jumping back into Horizon League play for the final 18 games of the regular season. The Raiders will close the 2023 calendar year with a trip to Youngstown State next Friday afternoon before playing at Robert Morris on December 31.
 
On Friday, Wright State outscored Presbyterian (8-6) by six in the opening quarter as the Raiders shot 53 percent in the first 10 minutes. The scoring was even throughout the remainder of the night as Wright State led by as many as seven points with two minutes to play and later iced the game with a pair of free throws with 16 seconds remaining.
 
Alexis Hutchison and Rachel Loobie each finished with 14 points and Kacee Baumhower added 12 points as the trio in double digits led nine Raiders in scoring. Hutchison and Loobie both got off to strong starts with seven points each in the first quarter as Wright State eventually led 33-26 at the break.
 
After a Presbyterian jumper with five and a half minutes left cut the margin to three points, Wright State responded with back-to-back buckets from Loobie and Jada Tate and the Raiders held on to a multiple possession lead until a Presbyterian basket cut the advantage back to three with 42 seconds remaining. Each side turned in an empty possession down the stretch before Baumhower hit a pair of free throws with 16 seconds remaining to wrap up the win.
 
The Raiders finished the win shooting 38 percent from the floor (21-of-56) while Presbyterian connected at 41 percent (24-of-58). The difference came at the free throw line, where Wright State was 18-of-21 (86 percent) overall and hit eight of its 10 fourth quarter attempts while Presbyterian went to the stripe nine times total (5-9, 56 percent), with four of those attempts coming in the first quarter alone.