WSU Women's Basketball Game Notes (PDF)
GAME STORYLINES
The Warriors enter 2014 with the longest current win streak in the GLIAC at six games. Wayne State most recently completed its non-conference schedule by winning both games at the Bellarmine Classic on Dec. 20-21. WSU defeated host Bellarmine 70-60, before topping Southern Indiana 82-74.
Shareta Brown was named tournament MVP, while
Destiny Lavita-Stephens was named to the All-Tournament team.
WSU opens the new year with home league contests in Detroit against Walsh on Thursday and Malone on Saturday. Wayne State is perfect at home to start the season, winning all three games. The Warriors are one of three teams in the conference with unblemished 4-0 league records.
SCOUTING WALSH
The Cavaliers are 1-3 in the GLIAC to start the season. Walsh has won two straight, beating Lake Superior in overtime on Dec. 14 and St. Joseph's College on Dec. 19. Sophomore guard Kelsey Funderburgh leads the squad at 17.3 points per game. She has converted 22-of-64 (34.4 percent) of her three-point attempts. Junior forward Whitney Dabbelt is fourth in the GLIAC at 8.0 rebounds per game.
Maria Marchesano is in her first year as head coach at Walsh. She was the head coach at Urbana for two seasons and played collegiate basketball at Butler.
ALL-TIME SERIES VS. WALSH
The Warriors have faced the Cavaliers just once, dropping a 61-60 contest last season at Walsh on Feb. 27, 2013.
Talisha Bridges had 22 points, 15 rebounds and six assists for WSU in the loss.
SCOUTING MALONE
Entering Thursday's game at Saginaw Valley, Malone is 1-3 in the conference and 6-4 overall. The Pioneers most recently played two games in Hawaii, defeating Chaminade 92-58 on Dec. 19 and dropping a game at Hawaii Pacific, 66-63, on Dec. 21. Junior guard Selana Reale is averaging 14.9 points per game and has made 50 percent (24-for-48) of her three-point shots. Senior Sydnee Penn and junior Lindsy Snyder are tied for the team lead at 6.6 rebounds per game.
Jason Mishler has a 32-31 record in his third year as head coach at Malone.
ALL-TIME SERIES VS. MALONE
The Warriors have won both prior meetings with the Pioneers. WSU defeated Malone 83-58 last season on Dec. 19, 2012, in the Pioneers first season in the GLIAC. Wayne State also beat MU in 2011-12 during
Carrie Lohr's first season as head coach.
GLIAC LEADERS
Shareta Brown leads the GLIAC in scoring at 21.3 points per contest in seven games. She is also first in the league in field goal percentage (61.8 percent) and steals (3.7 steals per game), and is second in rebounding (10.9 rebounds per contest).
Destiny Lavita-Stephens is tied-for-seventh in the league with 17 three-pointers made.
Jackie Jones is fifth in the conference at 4.1 assists per game.
Kristen Long is fifth in the GLIAC in free throw shooting percentage (90.0 percent).
LAST TIME OUT
Wayne State University used a strong second half surge for a second straight game to propelling them to victory at the Bellarmine Classic. The Warriors (7-1 overall) earned their sixth straight win by outlasting the University of Southern Indiana (6-2 overall), 82-74. The Warriors finished as the only team in the tournament to go 2-0.
Wayne State and Southern Indiana played back-and-forth for nearly the entire game. The Warriors trailed by one point at the break, 37-36. The game was back-and-forth throughout the second half with neither team leading by more than three points. There were nine lead changes and four ties in the second half alone.
The Warriors earned their biggest lead of the game to that point after
Jackie Jones hit a pair of free throws to give WSU a 63-60 edge with 4:30 left in the game. After USI's Taylor Stevenson countered with a two-point bucket,
Shareta Brown answered with a lay-up to again give WSU a three-point edge, 65-62, with 2:51 remaining in the contest. Southern Indiana's Anna Hackert cut the Wayne State led to one point, 65-64, after sinking two free throws. Wayne State would then proceed to go on a 7-0 run.
Brown grabbed two consecutive offensive rebounds and converted on a conventional three-point play to give WSU a 68-64 edge. After Wayne State got the ball back on a missed shot and rebound out-of-bounds, Jones was fouled on the way to the basket.
Southern Indiana received a team technical foul, resulting in four straight free throw tries for Wayne State.
Kristen Long made 1-of-2, while Jones also converted on 1-of-2 to give Wayne State a six-point lead, 70-64.
Brown capped off the 7-0 run with a lay-up to give the Warriors a 72-64 advantage with 1:09 remaining in the contest. The Screaming Eagles would never get closer than six points in the final minute.
Brown led four WSU players in double figures with 22 points. She also had a game-high 13 rebounds and five steals.
Kayla Bridges added 12 points and 10 rebounds for her third double-double of the season. Jones had 13 points and five assists.
Wayne State hit 27-of-34 free throws for the game, including 22-of-28 in the second half. WSU out-rebounded USI, 45-38. The Warriors also shot 42.4 percent, while the Screaming Eagles were limited to a 33.8 shooting percentage.
COACH LOHR
Carrie Lohr, who was named the 12th head coach in the history of women's basketball at WSU on May 11, 2011, is in her third season guiding the Warrior program. She was voted the 2012-13 GLIAC Coach of the Year by her peers after leading Wayne State to a share of the GLIAC North Division regular-season title, the first for the WSU women's basketball program since the 1980-81 season. Lohr also guided the Warriors to their first NCAA tournament victory (63-58 over Findlay) as well as the school's inaugural appearance in the NCAA Regional Championship game.
She recorded her 200th collegiate coaching victory on March 16, 2013, with WSU's 70-60 triumph over Wisconsin-Parkside in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. BCAM selected Lohr as the 2012-13 Women's College Coach of the Year.
2012-13 RECAP
The Warriors won a share of the GLIAC North Division title, advanced to the GLIAC tournament semifinals for the second time in school history and secured an NCAA tournament berth for the second time in program history. WSU won its first two ever NCAA tournament contests and advanced to the Sweet Sixteen before falling at eventual national champion Ashland, 72-63, in a game which WSU led 61-60 with 4:34 remaining.
Last season, the Warriors went 22-9 overall and 17-5 in GLIAC play while winning a share of the GLIAC North Division title. The 22 wins were one shy of the program record achieved in 1980-81 while the 17 conference wins were the most all-time.
COMCAST/XFINITY
Six games will be broadcast on Comcast Channel 900 in 2013-14. WSU entertains Tiffin on Dec. 5, Michigan Tech on Jan. 23 and Ferris State on Jan. 30. There are three televised dates in February with Wayne State hosting Northwood (Feb. 6), Saginaw Valley (Feb. 8) and Grand Valley (Feb. 22). Ryan Ermanni, Rod Beard and Joe Abramson will call the action this season. The games will also be replayed the week following the live event.
ON THE CALL
Former Tartar great Shay Lewis will handle play-by-play duties for home games on Warrior All-Access, a live video webcast of every contest from the Matthaei. Lewis scored 991 points for the Green and Gold while starting all 78 games in her three seasons (1995-98) in Detroit. She also totaled 449 rebounds, 191 assists and 139 steals.
WARRIOR ALL-ACCESS
The 2013-14 school year will mark the fourth season of Warrior All-Access at WSUAthletics.com. Not only will all home WSU basketball, football and volleyball games be available for viewing by a world-wide audience on a pay-per-view basis, but also the Warrior Daily ~ a video each weekday, available for free on WSUAthletics.com featuring interviews with WSU coaches, staff and student-athletes.
Fans wanting to watch Wayne State home events via Warrior All-Access will need a high-speed internet connection and Windows Media Player 9 or higher. Games will be sold on an individual basis with special viewing packages also available. Warrior All-Access will also feature On-Demand Audio and Video with the stored archived video and audio on WSUAthletics.com.
