CLEVELAND – The Wright State women's basketball team made an early second half charge on Wednesday night, but host Cleveland State always had an answer as the Raiders fell 71-59 on the road.
 
Wright State (14-11, 8-6 Horizon) now returns home for its next four contests, beginning Saturday afternoon with a 4 p.m. matchup against Purdue Fort Wayne.
 
Wednesday night, Cleveland State (21-4, 12-2 Horizon) led by 10 at the halftime break and tallied a free throw for the first points of the third quarter to lead 36-25. The Raiders responded, rolling off 10 of the next 12 points behind three-pointers from Lauren Scott and Layne Ferrell, along with pair of baskets from Rachel Loobie, to pull to within three at 38-35. Another Ferrell three-pointer pulled the margin back to five points a few possessions later, but the hosts answered with a 14-3 run to expand the lead going into the final quarter of play.
 
Wright State opened the fourth quarter with 10 of the first 15 points over a five-minute stretch to cut the deficit back to single digits at nine points, but Cleveland State responded with the next five points in just over a minute to extend the advantage and close the night out.
 
Ferrell finished with a game-high 17 points behind five three-pointers, adding four rebounds, four assists, three blocks and a steal to her loaded stat line, while Alexis Hutchison chipped in 10 points of her own but had just two points after the first five minutes of the contest. Lauren Scott added nine points and three Raiders – Kacee Baumhower, Claire Henson and Loobie – all had six points, with Loobie pulling down a team-leading six rebounds.
 
The Raiders shot 42 percent overall from the floor (22-of-53) with half of their baskets coming from three-point range (11-of-34, 32 percent), while they were 4-of-6 (67 percent) at the free throw stripe with four of the attempts coming in the third quarter. Cleveland State shot just 40 percent overall (25-of-63) and had six three-pointers (6-of-18, 33 percent) but went to the free throw line 22 times, connecting on 68 percent (15-of-22).
 
Colbi Maples had 16 points to lead four Cleveland State players with double figure scoring nights in the win.