Northwood (9-12, 4-10 GLIAC)
SERIES:
WSU leads Northwood 24-21 (first met-1980)
LAST MEETING:
at Northwood 64, Wayne State 47, Feb. 12, 2011
GAMES 23 STORYLINE
Wayne State is coming off a rough road trip through the Upper Peninsula, where they dropped a one-point decision to Northern Michigan and fell by 13 points at Michigan Tech. The Warriors are battling Northern Michigan, Grand Valley, Lake Superior, Northwood, and Findlay for the seventh and eighth playoff spots.
ALL-TIME SERIES
WSU holds a 24-21 advantage over Northwood, though the Timberwolves have won the last seven meetings. The last Warriors victory was an 80-53 decision at the Matthaei on January 7, 2006.
NORTHERN MICHIGAN RECAP
Wayne State was unable to hold onto an eight-point halftime lead in falling 70-69 at Northern Michigan University's Berry Events Center Feb. 2. After NMU knotted the game at two, the Warriors tallied the next 12 points and led 14-2 as
Paige Sickmiller had six points on a pair of buckets and two free throws.
Lena Thomas answered with five points in 42 seconds pushing the lead to nine (39-30). The Warriors went into intermission with a 41-33 advantage.
Wayne State's first made field goal of the second half came almost five minutes into the stanza and regained the lead at 44-43.
WSU had a 59-51 lead with 7:56 left after
Deiona Rogers split a pair of foul shots.
The Warriors went 5:30 without a field goal until
Juanita Cochran scored down low putting the guests in front 61-60.
Northern Michigan responded with seven consecutive points before a jumper by junior forward
Phaebre Colbert cut the deficit to four (67-63) with 2:24 left.
Sickmiller's basket with 73 seconds remaining made it a two-point contest (69-67).
Chelsea Lyons split a pair from the charity stripe, then Rogers made both of her free throw attempts with 46 seconds left making it a 70-69 game.
Lyons missed a lay-up late in the shot clock and also the follow up.
The Warriors called timeout with seven seconds left but Rogers' lay-up attempt was no good.
Four WSU players scored in double figures led by Cochran with 12 points. She also grabbed a team-best eight rebounds.Sickmiller contributed 11 points and six boards, while
Deanna Crumpton and Colbert each had 10 points.
MICHIGAN TECH RECAP
Wayne State battled defending national finalist Michigan Tech even for 27 minutes, but the Huskies pulled away in the final 13 mintues for a 78-65 triumph over the Warriors at the Student Development Center.
WSU started out strong out-scoring MTU 14-7 over the first five minutes of the game. The junior trio of Colbert, Cochran and Sickmiller tallied six, five and three points, respectively to jump start the Warrior offense.
There were three lead changes in the first two minutes of the second half but after a Cochran basket, the Huskies tallied seven straight points for a 46-40 advantage before a Colbert lay-up and a pair of Cochran free throws made it a two-point game (46-44) with 13 minutes left.
Colbert tied Tech's Sam Hoyt for game-high scoring honors with 23 points. Cochran added 20 points and Sickmiller had 11.
ON THE BENCH
Carrie Lohr is 11-11 as the head coach of the women's basketball program. She was named the 12th head coach in program history on May 11 after serving as the head coach at St. Clair County Community College (SC4) in Port Huron for nine seasons (2002-11). Lohr had a record of 166-106 (.610) in her nine years with the Skippers.
Northwood's Jeff Curtis is in his eighth season at the helm for the Timberwolves. He led the team to its first-ever GLIAC Tournament Championship in 2010-11. He currently has an overall record of 103-106. His 100th win came Dec. 3, 2011 against Lake Superior.
GLIAC PINK WAVE
Wayne State is proud to join the GLIAC and its member schools in participating in the conference's Pink Wave campaign to promote breast cancer awareness. At Saturday's game, the Wayne State women's basketball team will be wearing pink jerseys and the staff on press row are wearing pink T-shirts. During the men's game, the Warriors will be wearing pink shoelaces supplied by the GLIAC.
SCOUTING NORTHWOOD
The Timberwolves earned a 68-54 road win against Saginaw Valley Wednesday night, but it's just their fourth win in the GLIAC this season.
The Timberwolves are led by the GLIAC's second-best scorer, senior forward Savannah Stedman, who is averaging 16.6 ppg and shooting 47.8% (11th in the GLIAC). She is fourth in the GLIAC in total rebounding, averaging 8.7 rpg. Stedman transferred to Northwood after starting her collegiate career at Northwestern.
Junior guard Rachel Church ranks second on the team, averaging 13.0 ppg.
