Women's Basketball | 1/28/2015 12:48:00 PM

STORYLINES
The 10th-ranked Wayne State women's basketball squad (14-2 overall, 10-2 GLIAC) had its 10-game winning streak come to an end at Ashland last Saturday with an 84-68 setback.  The Warriors will finish a stretch of six road games in seven contest this Thursday at Malone (6 p.m.) before returning home on Saturday to host Walsh (1 p.m.).  The Walsh game begins an extended homestand where six of the next seven games will be held at the Matthaei.

IN THE POLLS
WSU was ranked 10th in the Jan. 27th WBCA/USA Today National Poll, one week after the highest ranking in program history (fifth).  The Warriors are ranked ninth by the Massey Rankings and 28th in the D2SIDA poll.  Wayne State was predicted to finish first in the South Division in the GLIAC Preseason Media Poll.

THE SERIES
WSU won the first three meetings against Malone until falling 61-53 in a GLIAC semifinal contest last March.  The Warriors are 2-0 at Osborne Hall with a 66-60 non-conference win in 2011, and an 83-58 triumph in 2012.

Wayne State and Walsh have met twice on the hardwood with each team winning at home.  The Cavaliers claimed a 61-60 win on Feb. 27, 2013, while WSU rebounded for a 79-57 victory in Detroit on Jan. 2, 2014.

LAST TIME OUT
Playing its fifth road match in the last six contests, the fifth-ranked Warriors had their 10-game winning streak come to an end with an 84-68 setback at Ashland (12-6 overall, 8-4 GLIAC) last Saturday.

The Warriors started strong scoring 12 of the game's first 17 points in the opening five minutes.  Shareta Brown totaled eight points on two three-point plays (a conventional three-point play followed by a triple from beyond the arc), while Gabby Machado and Jackie Jones each hit jumpers.

The Eagles tallied the next five points and kept their deficit under five until knotting the score at 24 as part of a 10-0 run by the hosts which included back-to-back three-pointers from Andi Daugherty and McKenzie Miller.  AU concluded the first half outscoring WSU 12-8 which gave the Eagles a 44-32 edge at intermission.

Wayne State trailed by nine to 12 points for the first four minutes of the second half until a jumper by Amber McCann, and Brittany Streetman answering an Ashland triple with one of her own to make it an eight-point game (52-44) with 14:36 left.  The Warriors then scored five of the game's next seven points to pull within five (54-49) on a three-pointer by Destiny Lavita-Stephens at the 12:41 mark.  WSU was again within five (56-51) after a Streetman jumper, but the Eagles responded with a 7-0 spurt to take a 12-point advantage (63-51) with 8:43 on the clock.  An offensive foul call on Brown with 7:39 remaining was her fifth foul of the game and Ashland closed out the game on a 21-15 run.

Brown led WSU with 20 points and tied for game-high rebounding honors with 13 boards.  Lavita-Stephens and Streetman each connected twice from long range in scoring 11 points, while McCann contributed 10 points off the bench.

Wayne State shot 37 percent (23-of-62) from the floor, including 32 percent (6-of-19) from three-point range.  The Warriors entered the game fourth in the nation in field goal percentage at 47.4%.

SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
The Pioneers are 2-2 in their last four contests after losing five of the previous six games.  Sophomore guard Rachel Goddard leads Malone in scoring (11.6 points per game), three-pointers made (23), steals (17) and blocked shots (7).  Senior guard Selana Reale is second in scoring (9.9 ppg), while leading the squad in assists (47).  Senior forward Lindsy Snyder has a team-best 122 rebounds (7.6 rpg) while ranking third in scoring (6.7 ppg).

Walsh has won four of its last five contests to move into third place in the South Division.  Junior guard Kelsey Funderburgh has team-high totals in scoring (16.5 ppg) and three-pointers made (47), while sophomore guard Brooklyn Wooten is second in scoring (10.4 ppg) but leads the team with 54 assists.  Sophomore guard Jalynn Graham is first in steals (43), second in assists (51) and rebounding (5.7 rpg) and third in scoring (9.4 ppg) for the Cavaliers.  Freshman post player Brittni Clopton has a team-best 111 rebounds and 19 blocked shots.

NATIONAL STATISTICS
In the Jan. 26th NCAA stats report, Wayne State was 10th in all of Division II in team field goal percentage (46.7%).  The Warriors are 13th in scoring margin (+17.2), 16th in both rebounding margin (+8.1) and 20th in winning percentage (87.5%).  WSU is 21st in scoring offense (77.4 ppg) and 40th in fewest turnovers per game (14.6).

In terms of individual national statistics, Shareta Brown leads the nation in field goal percentage (64.7), total rebounds per contest (15.4) and offensive rebounds per game (6.0).  She is alos first nationally in double-doubles (15), while ranking seventh in defensive rebounds per game (9.0) and scoring (21.8 ppg).

In terms of active Division II players, Brown is first in career points (2,280), scoring average (20.0 ppg), rebounds (1,203), field goals made (785), free throws made (672) and attempted (905) as well as double-doubles (62).  Her free throws made and attempted totals plus rebounding mark are first among all active NCAA players (Divisions I, II and III combined), while her double-doubles total leads all current Division I and Division II players.  Brown ranks third in field goal percentage (60.0%), third in games played (114 - 68 with Detroit and 46 at WSU), sixth in rebounding average (10.6 rpg) and eighth in field goals attempted (1,309).  Jackie Jones is ninth in total assists (402) and 10th in assists average (3.79).

Brown has 240 career assists, 81 blocked shots and 177 steals, while shooting 36.2 percent (38-of-105) from beyond the arc and 74.3 percent from the charity stripe.

NEXT UP
The Warriors will host Findlay Monday evening, Tiffin on Thursday night then travel to Ohio Dominican for a February 5th game.

CLOSING IN ON 1,000
Senior center Shareta Brown needs 45 points to become the 16th women's basketball player in the 41-year history of the program with 1,000 points.  Brown joined the Warriors after playing her first two seasons at Detroit Mercy where she totaled 1,325 points in 68 games (19.5 points per game).

COMCAST/XFINITY/ALL-ACCESS
Beginning on Jan. 31st every women's and men's basketball home game will be broadcast live throughout the state of Michigan on Comcast CN900.  Sean Baligian, Ryan Ermanni, Rod Beard and Joe Abramson will bring you the action.  Every home game will have a video webcast through WSUAthletics.com.  Both games this weekend will have Cliff Russell serving as the broadcaster.

ALL-NEW MATTHAEI
The Matthaei has received a face lift over the course of the past decade. In January of 2014, a new scoreboard and video board were installed which features live action and replays. During the offseason, the Warriors added a new parquet floor and the sub-floor (circa 1965) was replaced. And finally a new basketball office expansion was completed in the fall on the northwest corner of the Matthaei. The new expansion includes six coaches offices, a theater-style film room and a reception area.