Women’s Basketball to Host Purdue Fort Wayne Thursday

Thursday, February 5

Dayton, OH

7 PM

Wright State University

Purdue Fort Wayne

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Photo by: Joseph Craven

Women’s Basketball to Host Purdue Fort Wayne Thursday

2/4/2026 4:00:00 PM | Women's Basketball

DAYTON- The Wright State women's basketball team (6-17, 2-10 HL) returns home to the Nutter Center on Thursday, February 5, as Purdue Fort Wayne comes to town. Tip-off is slated for 7 p.m.

GAME INFORMATION
Thursday, February 5 – WATCH (ESPN+) | FOLLOW LIVE STATS

SCOUTING THE MASTODONS
Purdue Fort Wayne enters Thursday at 15-8 on the season and has a 9-4 record in Horizon League play. The Mastodons are also on a four-game win streak, having defeated Cleveland State, Northern Kentucky, Robert Morris, and Detroit Mercy.

The Mastodons lead the Horizon League in scoring, averaging 71.5 points per game, and are second in the conference in shooting percentage, shooting 44.4% from the floor. Graduate student Alana Nelson not only leads Purdue Fort Wayne in scoring, but she also leads the entire conference, averaging 16.8 points per game. Nelson leads the league in three pointers (52) and three pointers per game (2.3), second in three-point percentage 40.0%, and is also fourth in field goal percentage. Lilli Krasovec joins Nelson in double figures with 11.4 points per game on a team high 64% shooting. The Mastodons also boast the best turnover margin in the conference with a 3.78 margin.

HISTORY VS. PURDUE FORT WAYNE
Thursday night's contest will mark the 27^th all-time meeting between Wright State and Purdue Fort Wayne, a series the Mastodons lead 14-11.

Wright State came up short against Purdue Fort Wayne, 52-68, when the two teams met in Fort Wayne on December 7^th. The Raiders got a balanced scoring attack with 8 different Raiders finding their way onto the box score. Claire Henson and Breezie Williams tied for the team lead with nine points apiece, followed closely by Rylee Sagester and Lauren Scott with eight points each. Williams also led the team in rebounds, snagging a season-high 10 and swiping three more steals.

LAST TIME OUT
The Raiders dropped a back-and-forth battle on the road at Milwaukee Saturday afternoon by a score of 70-75.

Three Raiders finished in double figures, led by Claire Henson with 13 points and a team-high six rebounds. Joining Henson in double figures were Rylee Sagester with 12 points and Lauren Scott with 10 points. Breezie Williams was orchestrating the Wright State offense from her point guard position, dishing out a game-high eight assists.

Milwaukee started the game hot, opening with an 11-0 run, before Sagester got the Raiders on the board with a three-pointer. Makenzie Drout led the Raiders in scoring after the first five minutes, scoring five early points in her home state.

Wright State would almost erase an 11-point Milwaukee lead in the back half of the second quarter. The Raiders would end the first half on a 15-5 run that included four three pointers and an and-one opportunity. Rager, Henson, Drout, and Sagester would all connect from deep, and Henson would connect on the layup and-one opportunity.

Grace Okih would score the first bucket of the second half and give the Raiders their first lead of the afternoon. The two squads would exchange buckets and leads with six lead changes in the third quarter alone. The Raiders shot a perfect 3-3 from beyond the arc in the period to keep pace with the Panthers. Wright State got a chance to inbound the ball with 1.6 seconds remaining, and Scott found a cutting Williams, whose layup beat the buzzer to tie the game at 58 entering the fourth quarter.

Wright State and Milwaukee battled back and forth before the Panthers went on a 7-0 run across five minutes to take the lead and not look back.

In the box score, Wright State led Milwaukee in rebounds (35-31), second chance points (6-4), fast break points (5-3), and bench points (27-21). The Raiders knocked down 12 three-pointers on 37.5% shooting, their highest number of made threes since knocking down 18 against Wilberforce.

HORIZON LEAGUE RANKS
The Raiders are sixth in the league with 1,514 points and seventh in points per game, averaging 65.8 points. The Raiders are getting it done from beyond the three-point line, shooting 32.0% and knocking down 7.5 three-pointers per game, behind Purdue Fort Wayne at 7.8 per game.

BALL SECURITY IS JOB SECURITY
The Wright State offense has been taking care of the ball this season, averaging 13.4 turnovers per game, which ranks second in the Horizon League and tied for 36th nationally. The Raiders also boast a 2.13 turnover margin, which ranks fourth in the Horizon League.

BREEZIE LIKE A SUNDAY MORNING
Senior guard Breezie Williams has made an immediate impact for the Raiders, averaging 11.7 points, 3.2 assists, and 3.9 rebounds per game in a Raider uniform. The Canton, Ohio, native is shooting 37.9% from the floor and 30.4% from three-point range. The senior is also getting it done on the defensive end of the floor, averaging 2.2 steals per game. Williams currently ranks 13th in the Horizon League in points per game (11.7) and tied for second in steals per game (2.2). On Saturday, January 19, Williams joined the 1,000 career-point club, scoring her 1,00^th point on a layup with 42 seconds remaining in the first quarter. The Bryant transfer had a breakout performance on the road at Tennessee State, dropping a new career-high 27 points with three assists, three rebounds, and two blocks. She followed up her career night in Nashville with a 20-point performance against Wilberforce in just 14 minutes of action. Williams also finished one rebound and one steal short of a triple-double at Florida Atlantic, finishing with a career-high nine steals and a season-high nine rebounds. Williams has turned in a team-high five 20-point performances on the season. Three of which have come within the last month against Green Bay (20), Detroit Mercy (26), and Cleveland State (20).

ELLIE MAGIC
Wright State's Ellie Magestro-Kennedy has turned in double-digit scoring performances in five of her last seven games. Against Green Bay (10), IU Indy (13), Youngstown State (17), Northern Kentucky (10), and highlighted by a career-high 18 at Cleveland State. To go along with the scoring, Magestro-Kennedy has seen her role increase, playing 20+ minutes in seven straight games, all of which saw her in the starting lineup.

The redshirt sophomore was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes five years ago. Daily, she is required to check blood glucose (sugar) levels, administer and adjust insulin dosages, and calculate meal carbohydrates (regular and pre- and post-workout/practice/games).

CLAIRE CRASHING THE BOARDS
Claire Henson has been active in the paint for the Raiders, snagging 137 rebounds so far this season. Henson is sixth in the Horizon League with 6.5 rebounds per game.

Henson also has a team high of three double-doubles. The senior has recorded double-doubles against Bellarmine (13 pts. and 12 reb.), Ohio (17 pts. and 15 reb. (career-high)), and Oakland (17 pts. and 10 reb.). Fellow senior Chloe Chard Peloquin recorded the only other double-double for the Raiders in the season opener against Butler (15 pts. and 11 rebs.).

RYLEE FROM RANGE
Redshirt sophomore guard Rylee Sagester is not only one of the best three-point shooters in the Horizon League but is one of the best in the country. The Alexandria, Ohio native is shooting a stellar 38.1% from beyond the arc, which is a team best. Sagester's 43 three-pointers place her tied for fourth in the Horizon League standings. Sagester has made more than one three-pointer in 14 of the Raiders' 23 games, highlighted by a pair of games with five made threes against Wilberforce and Bellarmine.

SIZING UP THE 2025-26 SQUAD
The Raiders return nine players from last season while adding four newcomers (two transfers and two freshmen).

The squad features four seniors, three juniors, four sophomores, and two freshmen. The roster also expands not only across the nation, with four different states represented (Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Wisconsin), but across the globe, with three international student-athletes (England, Nigeria, Sweden).

UP NEXT
Wright State will remain at home as they welcome IU Indy into the Nutter Center Saturday afternoon. Tipoff is slated for 2 p.m., and the first 500 fans through the door will receive a Wright State/Pepsi Bluetooth speaker.