Nov. 14, 2010

Owensboro, Ky. -- Beginning the season 0-2 is not what the Wayne State women's basketball team had in mind. Unfortunately, it happened, but the encouraging reality is the Warriors played well-enough to be 2-0, and had a few breaks gone in their favor, the team would be.

Sunday afternoon's overtime loss at Kentucky Wesleyan was especially tough to swallow for the Warriors as they were outscored 15-6 in the extra frame, on their way to an 81-72 defeat.

Leading the attack for Wayne State was sophomore Tyler Hardy (Ann Arbor, Mich. / Huron), who tallied a career-high 17 points and also tied a career-best for rebounds with five.

Junior Felicia Thomas (Kalamazoo, Mich. / Central) chipped in 14 points and five rebounds, while sophomore Paige Sickmiller (Washington, Mich. / Romeo) led the team with a career-high nine rebounds to go along with seven points.

Freshman Lauryn Robinson (Washington Court House, Ohio / Washington), making her second straight start, posted nine points and sophomore Deanna Crumpton (Kentwood, Mich. / East Kentwood) added eight.

Similar to the opener at Southern Indiana, excitement never yielded.

Wayne State had a chance to win, with the ball, and 22 seconds remaining in regulation.

However, while taking the ball out-of-bounds in front of their own bench, the Warriors were whistled for a quicker than normal five-second call, giving the ball back to the home team.

WSU responded by playing rock-solid defense, holding the Panthers to a tough shot, which missed, giving the Warriors another chance with 2.7 seconds left.

Though, Wayne State was unable to get a shot off as time expired, the score remained tied at 66.

In overtime, the Warriors struggled offensively, making only two of 10 shots, while the Panthers were the opposite, going 8-for-11.

Regulation was deadlocked throughout, with neither team leading by more than seven. The fans saw 12 lead changes and 13 ties.

WSU almost went into the half down six, but was able to outscore the Panthers 6-0 in the final three minutes to knot the score at 36.

Out of the locker room, Kentucky Wesleyan responded with a 7-0 run of its own, but Wayne State climbed back. Chelsea Davis (Canton, Mich. / Plymouth Salem) knotted the score at 49 with 10:59 to go in regulation and a neck-and-neck battled ensued.

A bucket from Tyler Hardy gave the Warriors a 60-57 advantage with 5:27 remaining. Katie Behrens and Bianca Barton recorded back-to-back scores to put the home team in front, 61-60.

Hardy answered with two free-throws and then KWC's Kristen Rowe, who led all scorers with 22 points, completed a traditional three-point play, giving the Panthers a 64-62 advantage with 2:20 to go. Davis came right back, hitting a jumper from the block.

Shelbi Tyra's jumper gave the Panthers a two-point lead with 1:49 left. Robinson's shot just missed off the front of the rim for the visitors, giving the ball back to KWC with 1:23 left.

Unyielding defense from Wayne State forced a traveling call, and subsequently, with the clock shot running out on the Warriors, Crumpton's jumper missed, but a foul was called on Kourtney Rhoads with 30 seconds to go.

She made both, but on the ensuing in-bounds, a foul was called on the WSU, but KWC missed the front end of a one-and-one, setting up the five-second call on Wayne State.

The Warriors will travel to Lewis University this Friday (11/19) for a 6:30 p.m. EST tip, and then follow it up with a 2:00 p.m. EST contest on Sunday at Wisconsin-Parkside.