Painesville, Ohio – The 2011-12 Wayne State University women's basketball team (4-1 overall, 0-1 GLIAC) began the league portion of its schedule with a trip to Lake Erie College (6-0 overall, 1-0 GLIAC) Thursday evening and the Warriors suffered an 81-71 setback.
 
The Storm scored the first five points of the contest before juniors Amelia Davis (Temperance, Mich. / Bedford) and Paige Sickmiller (Romeo, Mich.) combined to score five of the next seven points as Davis scored from inside and Sickmiller drained a three pointer.
 
After a jumper by Deanna Crumpton (Kentwood, Mich. / East Kentwood) narrowed the Warrior deficit to one (10-9), LEC tallied the next four points. 
 
WSU pulled even at 15 on a jumper by sophomore Lena Thomas (Bloomfield Twp., Mich. / Bloomfield Hills Andover) at the 14:21 mark.  After a triple by Jen Caiola gave the hosts a three-point advantage, junior Phaebre Colbert (Grand Rapids, Mich. / Forest Hills Northern) and Sickmiller each made jumpers within a 20-second span to give Wayne State its first lead of the game at 19-18.
 
Wayne State was held without a field goal for over four minutes as the Storm regained a 25-24 lead until a jumper by senior Stefani Munro (Harrison Twp., Mich. / Mount Clemens) at the 7:18 mark.
 
Another three-pointer by Caiola ignited a 14-1 run by the Storm over the final seven minutes of the first half leading to a 38-26 Lake Erie lead at intermission.
 
The Warriors shot 33 percent (9-of-27) in the opening 20 minutes and had 17 turnovers, while the Storm connected on 32 percent (9-of-28) from the floor and shot 21 free throws, making 16.
 
Wayne State scored the first nine points of the second half to pull within three at 38-35, but Caiola drained another triple to start a 13-0 run for Lake Erie increasing the hosts lead to 51-35.
 
A Colbert jumper ended a three minute scoring drought for the Warriors.  A lay-up by sophomore Imari Redfield (Detroit, Mich. / Country Day) with 11:27 remaining cut the deficit to nine (52-43) but an 11-6 run by the Storm helped the hosts regain a 14-point advantage at 63-49.
 
Back-to-back buckets down low by junior Juanita Cochran (Saginaw, Mich. / Arthur Hill) and a lay-up by Colbert made it an eight-point contest at 63-55 with 7:40 left.  Following another triple by Caiola (her fifth of the game), WSU outscored the Storm 6-2 to pull within seven at 70-63 with 4:20 remaining.
 
After a hoop by LEC's Stephanie Rogers, Colbert hit a jumper and Sickmiller added a triple a minute later to make it a four-point game at 72-68.  Alyssa Wagers split a pair from the foul line for the Storm, but a Warrior turnover was followed by a three-point basket by Britt Busson.
 
Even though Lake Erie made just 5-of-8 from the charity stripe down the stretch, Wayne State was able to make just one field goal in the final 2:50.
 
Colbert tallied a team-high 17 points off the bench to lead four Warriors in double figures.  She also recorded her first double-double of the season by adding 10 rebounds. Sickmiller contributed 12 points while Crumpton had her first double-double of the season with 10 points and 15 rebounds.  Munro added 10 points and a team-best seven assists.
 
Wayne State shot 44 percent (30-69) for the contest but was just 2-of-13 (15 percent) from beyond the arc and 9-of-19 (47 percent) from the foul line.
 
Lake Erie also had four players in double figures led by Caiola's 25 and Rogers' 20.  Caiola made 5-of-11 from long distance, while Rogers contributed a double-double with 13 rebounds and four blocks.  Wagers also had a double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds.
 
The Storm shot 36 percent (21-of-59) from the field and attempted 24 more free throws (43-19) than WSU making 32 for 74 percent. 
 
The Warriors held a 38-26 advantage for points in the paint and a 28-7 lead in bench points but Lake Erie scored 22 points off 24 WSU miscues.
 
Wayne State will try to even its conference mark with a 1 p.m. tip-off on Saturday at Ashland.

Coach Lohr Quotebook:

“I thought the players showed some fight.  The loss didn't come because of a lack effort.  You have to give Lake Erie credit they ran their stuff pretty well and executed.
 
"We couldn't catch a break; we didn't have a rhythm and never got in a good flow offensively until the second half.  We just couldn't play catch up.
 
"We mentally didn't seem to have it tonight.  We weren't very sharp.  With the way we played we were fortunate to get out with only a 10-point loss.
 
"We came out for the second half and battled back to cut it to three, but then things got away from us.  We were down 16 and battled back to four (72-68) and we needed just one more stop.
 
"What we lacked tonight is correctable.  We will go back to work tomorrow and get ready for Ashland."