Women’s Basketball Travels to Purdue Fort Wayne for HL Championship Quarterfinals

Thursday, March 6

Fort Wayne, IN

7 PM

Wright State University

Purdue Fort Wayne (Quarterfinals)

Photo by: Joseph Craven

Women’s Basketball Travels to Purdue Fort Wayne for HL Championship Quarterfinals

3/5/2025 4:00:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Watch on ESPN+Live Stats WSU Gamenotes at PFW

DAYTON — The No. 8-seeded Wright State women's basketball team travels to Fort Wayne, Indiana, to face No. 2-seeded Purdue Fort Wayne in the 2025 Barbasol Horizon League Championship quarterfinals. The 7 p.m. tipoff game will stream live on ESPN+ and have live stats available.

GAME INFORMATION
Thursday, March 6 – 7:00 p.m. – Watch – Live Stats – WSU Game Notes

LAST TIME OUT
The Raiders advanced to the Horizon League Championship quarterfinals after defeating No. 9-seeded Youngstown State, 73-58, at home on Tuesday evening.

The Raiders finished shooting 42.6 percent from the field, 43.5 percent from three, and 84.6 percent on the free throw line. Three Raiders– Claire Henson, Lauren Scott, and Amaya Staton– reached double-figure scoring. Staton led the team with 17 points, followed by Henson with 12 points and Scott with 10. Makiya Miller added nine points for the Raiders, while Ryle Sagester and Macie Taylor added eight each. Henson led the team with four assists, followed by Olivia Brown with three.

Staton led the team with a record-breaking 27 rebounds, outrebounding the Penguins' 26 total team rebounds. Staton alone bested YSU in offensive rebounds 9-6. Wright State recorded four blocks, with Staton contributing three and Miller adding one. Brown led the team in steals with four on the evening, followed by Staton with two and Miller with one.

SCOUTING THE MASTODONS
Purdue Fort Wayne, seeded No. 2 in the league, is 23-7 on the season and finished 18-2 in the Horizon League. The Mastodons earned a bye for the first round of the Horizon League Championship, closing the regular season with a 68-63 overtime loss at Green Bay.

As a team, PFW leads the league and ranks No. 18 nationally with a 36.8 three-point percentage, averaging 9.2 threes per game. PFW is shooting 44.5 percent overall, ranked second in the league, and 76.1 percent on the free throw line. The Mastodons lead the league with a 16.8 scoring margin and 23.2 bench points per game. The Mastodons are second with 36.07 rebounds per game and in scoring defense (59.4).

Leading the way for PFW is HL Newcomer of the Year and All-League First Team selection Lauren Ross. Ross leads the nation shooting 47.7 percent from three and is second in the HL with a 47.3 field goal percentage. All-League Second Team select Sydney Freeman is third in the HL in steals with 59 on the season. Fourth-season head coach Maria Marchesano was voted the league's Coach of the Year, the first in Mastodon program history.

HISTORY VS. PURDUE FORT WAYNE
The Mastodons swept WSU in the regular season, winning both matchups to take the all-time series record 12-11. Last season, Wright State and PFW went 1-1, with both teams winning on their home courts.

ALL-LEAGUE HONORS
Amaya Staton earned two Horizon League honors, earning spots on both the Horizon League All-League Third Team and the All-Defensive Team. Additionally, Lauren Scott was named a finalist for the Horizon League Sportsmanship Award.

A graduate forward, Staton started all 30 regular season games for the Raiders. She led the team with 346 total points, averaging 11.5 per game, and was also the team's top rebounder with 264 total rebounds (8.8 per game). Staton led the Horizon League and ranked in the top 25 nationally with 14 double-doubles this season. She was the first Raider in recent program history to record eight consecutive double-doubles. Staton was a defensive force, tying the 40-year program record for blocks in a game with seven against Youngstown State. She also led the league with 50 blocks this season, ranking fifth in program history.

HORIZON LEAGUE RANKS
The Raiders are among the Horizon League's statistical leaders, ranking third in bench points per game (21.2) and free throws per game (12.23).

Amaya Staton leads the league and ranks No. 36 nationally with 53 blocks this season, averaging 1.71 blocks per game. Staton also leads the HL with 291 rebounds, averaging 9.4 per game. The graduate forward leads the HL with 15 double-doubles on the season, sitting No. 14 nationally.

AN UNBELIEVABLE NIGHT
Amaya Staton had a record-breaking night as the Wright State women's basketball team defeated Youngstown State 73-58 in the first round of the 2025 Barbasol Horizon League Championship. Staton's 27 rebounds set new records for the WSU program, the Horizon League Championship, and the 2025 NCAA Division I single-game rebounding mark. She also matched the HL all-time single-game rebounding record.

"It just sounds surreal. I didn't even know how many I had. I just knew I had to go get the rebounds," said the graduate forward. "We set a goal for us; we wanted five-plus kills, and we knew we needed to finished plays to get that. So, I was like 'alright let me go get as many points as I can.' Didn't realize it was 27."

Staton reached double figures in rebounding in the first quarter, grabbing 11 boards—more than doubling YSU's total of five. Staton grabbed eight rebounds in the third to sit just two rebounds away from the WSU program record of 25 rebounds in a game, set 50 years prior by Margie Coate against Ohio Wesleyan (February 1, 1975). She secured her final four rebounds in the closing minutes, grabbing one at the 2:15 mark. She tied the program record with 80 seconds left, then broke it just over a minute before the buzzer. With 30 seconds remaining, she collected her 27th board, matching the HL single-game record.

"It's unbelievable what she just did. Nine offensive, eighteen defensive, and outrebounding the other team, that's incredible. I've never seen anything like it," said head coach Kari Hoffman. "I challenged our team before the game, 'you need to have a mentality of refusing to lose,' and I believe that's that stat line from Amaya." Hoffman continued, "I'm thrilled that she is finishing her career, probably one of the best fifth years I've seen finish a career with this much determination, desire, and I'm really proud of her."

STATON: PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Amaya Staton became the second Raider to earn Horizon League weekly honors, being named the Player of the Week on Monday, February 17. A native of Lorain, Ohio, Staton led the team to a 78-76 overtime win at Youngstown State on Thursday, February 13. The graduate forward tallied her tenth double-double of the season, recording a season-best 23 points and matching a career high 16 rebounds. Staton shot 7-of-12 from the floor and 9-of-10 from the free-throw line.

SAGESTER: FRESHMAN OF THE WEEK
On January 13, redshirt freshman guard Rylee Sagester became the first Raider to earn Horizon League weekly honors, named Freshman of the Week. A native of West Alexandria, Ohio, Sagester helped the team to its first two HL wins, defeating Detroit Mercy, 67-64, and Youngstown State, 77-62. Over those two games, Sagester shot 53.8 percent from the field and 62.5 percent from three, making 5-of-8 from deep. She averaged 10 points per game, tying Claire Henson for the team lead with 15 points against UDM, including 4-of-5 from three.

SHOWING OFF IN THE CLASSROOM
The Wright State women's basketball team excels both on and off the court, with all 13 student-athletes achieving a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or better after the Fall 2024 semester. Additionally, the team posted the highest term GPA in the department, finishing with a 3.753. Cumulatively, the team holds a 3.615 grade point average.