Women’s Basketball set for postseason play at No. 8 Oakland

Tuesday, February 28

Rochester, MI

7 PM

Wright State University

No. 9 Oakland (First Round)

Cara VanKempen, Isabelle Bolender, Lauren Scott

Women’s Basketball set for postseason play at No. 8 Oakland

2/27/2023 5:10:00 PM | Women's Basketball

DAYTON — The ninth-seed Wright State women's basketball program will open the 2023 Barbasol Horizon League Basketball Championship with a first-round matchup at No. 8 seed Oakland on Tuesday, February 28, inside the Athletics Center O'rena. The postseason contest will commence at 7 p.m. and broadcast live on ESPN+. Live stats will also be available.

THE MATCHUP
Feb. 28 at No. 8 Oakland | 7 p.m. | Watch | Live Stats | Game Notes

LAST TIME OUT
The Raiders are coming off an 86-74 Senior Day victory over Detroit Mercy last Saturday. WSU made a season-high 22 free throws on 25 attempts while also netting double-figure threes for the 16th time this season. The senior trio of Isabelle Bolender, Emily Chapman, and Bryce Nixon combined for 47 points and nine 3-pointers in the win. Bolender scored a career-high 25 points, finishing 7-of-12 from the field and 5-of-8 on 3-pointers. Chapman poured in 14 points and dished out a team-high six assists, while Nixon added eight points and two steals.

Wright State faced a 16-12 deficit at the end of the first quarter, but outscored UDM 60-38 over the following two quarters to gain a 72-54 advantage. The Raiders led by double digits for the entirety of the fourth quarter to seal a win in its regular-season finale.

TOURNAMENT INFO
The top four seeds will host quarterfinal matchups, while the semifinals and championship will take place on March 6-7 at the Indiana Farmers Coliseum in Indianapolis. Each round of the championship will re-seed, with the highest-remaining seed matching up against the lowest-remaining seed until the championship games. Every tournament game will be carried on ESPN networks, with the championship airing on ESPNU on March 7.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Isabelle Bolender earned the latest Horizon League Player of the Week (2/26) after averaging 24.0 points, 3.5 rebounds, 3.0 assists, and 1.5 steals over two wins last week. The senior guard shot 61.9 percent (13-of-21) from the field, 60% (9-of-15) on 3-pointers, and 91.7% (11-of-12) on free throws in the stretch. Bolender opened the week with a team-leading 23 points, four assists, three rebounds, and two steals in WSU's 83-75 victory over Oakland at home. The Cedarville, Ohio native celebrated a Senior Day victory against Detroit Mercy with a career-high 25 points, going 7-of-12 on field goals, 5-of-8 from deep, and 6-of-6 at the charity stripe.

ALL-FRESHMAN TEAM
Makiya Miller was named to the Horizon League All-Freshman Team on Monday, February 27. The Reynoldsburg, Ohio native has played in all 30 games (10 starts), averaging 5.8 points, 1.5 assists, 1.4 rebounds, and 0.6 steals per contest. She leads WSU freshmen in scoring, assists, and minutes per game (20.4) while ranking second on the team in free throw makes (39) and free throw attempts (57). The 5-foot-7 guard scored in double figures in her opening three games as a Raider, becoming the first freshman player in the last 17 seasons to do so.

SHOWING OFF RANGE
The Raiders rank second in the country and first in the HL with 10.0 3-pointers per game. Wright State has netted double-figure 3-pointers on 16 occasions, including 11 times in its last 16 games. WSU made a school record 18 3-pointers versus Cleveland State (1/20) and added 14 threes at Purdue Fort Wayne (2/16) in the span. Seven players have netted 20-plus 3-pointers on the season, led by Bryce Nixon with 70 makes.

SCOUTING THE GOLDEN GRIZZLIES
Oakland finished the regular season 13-16 overall and 8-12 in the Horizon League under the direction of 10th-year head coach Jeff Tungate. The Golden Grizzlies have won two of their last three games with narrow victories over Detroit Mercy (66-65) and Northern Kentucky (79-76).

The Golden Grizzlies have three players scoring in double figures, led by Horizon League Freshman of the Year Brooke Quarles-Daniels with 12.1 points per game. As a team, Oakland tops the conference with 14.6 offensive rebounds per game while also ranking third in steals per game (8.6) and free throws per game (12.90).

HISTORY VS. OAKLAND
The Raiders have controlled the all-time series versus Oakland with 19 wins in 25 meetings. Wright State defeated the Golden Grizzlies 83-75 at home last Thursday (2/23), which snapped a four-game losing streak against OU. Isabelle Bolender (23 pts), Kacee Baumhower (16 pts), Rachel Loobie (12 pts), and Bryce Nixon (10 pts) scored in double figures in the victory. WSU made history in its 80-75 win against OU during the 2017-18 season with school records in free throws makes (33) and free throw attempts (48).

TAKING CARE OF THE ROCK
The Raiders have committed just 12.8 turnovers per game this season, the 25th-lowest mark in the nation. Wright State has eight games with single-digit turnovers, including a season-low five versus IUPUI (2/4).

RAIDER MILESTONES
Emily Chapman surpassed 1,500 career points after scoring a season-high 28 in Wright State's 74-65 win at Milwaukee (2/10). She is also nearing 500 career rebounds (currently at 487 rebounds) in her collegiate career. The guard spent her first four seasons at nearby Cedarville University, where she was a two-time All-GMAC selection and NCCAA All-America Second Team selection in 2021. Fellow Cedarville transfer Isabelle Bolender is up 981 points over 90 collegiate games.

TOUGH TESTS
Thirteen of the 19 Division I opponents Wright State faced in the regular season boast winning record, which includes seven teams in the NET top 100. WSU squared off against a pair of teams that reached the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 last season (Ohio State and Tennessee) during the non-conference portion of its schedule in addition to the Mid-American Conference's top-two teams (Toledo and Bowling Green).

SHOOTING THREAT
Bryce Nixon is tied for ninth in single-season school history with 70 3-point makes this season. The senior guard is averaging a team-high 11.6 points per game, ranking second in the Horizon League in 3-pointers (70) and third in 3-pointers per game (2.33) and 3-point percentage (39.1%). She has scored in double figures in 17 games, including ten times in conference play. Nixon poured in a career-best 24 points versus Southern Indiana (12/17), 23 points against NKU (2/2), and 20 points at Eastern Illinois (11/28).

FRESHMAN OF THE WEEK
Lauren Scott earned Horizon League Freshman of the Week (2/6) after averaging 11.5 points, 2.0 rebounds, and 2.0 assists over two games at the start of February. The freshman guard shot 57.1 percent (8-of-14) overall, 50% (3-of-6) on 3-pointers, and 80% (4-of-5) on free throws in the span. She finished with a season-high 16 points in just 18 minutes of play against IUPUI (2/4) while adding seven points on 3-of-5 shooting in WSU's 80-70 victory over Northern Kentucky (2/2).

CHAP AT HER BEST
Emily Chapman has proven to be a threat in her first year with the Raiders, as she leads the team in shooting percentage (50%), 3-point shooting (44.5%), rebounding (3.3 rpg), and assists (2.9 apg) while ranking second in scoring (9.8 ppg) and steals (1.0 spg). The Proctorville, Ohio native poured in a season-best 28 points on 12-of-15 shooting at Milwaukee (2/10) and added 18 points at Tennessee (12/11). The 5-5 senior guard has been WSU's leading rebounder on five occasions and has tallied five-plus assists in four of her last five games.

FINDING A GROOVE
Kacee Baumhower has reached double-figure scoring 15 times in her last 18 games. The sophomore guard is averaging a team-leading 11.4 points against HL opponents, highlighted by a career-high 23 points on 8-of-12 shooting and a 5-of-6 clip on 3-pointers at Detroit Mercy (1/13). Baumhower leads the team in free throw makes (50) and free throw attempts (76) while also ranking second in rebounding (3.2 rpg), assists (2.2 apg), and blocks (0.3 bpg).