Women's Basketball | 1/7/2015 5:13:00 PM

STORYLINES
The eighth-ranked Wayne State (9-1 overall, 5-1 GLIAC) women's basketball squad begins a stretch a six road games in the next seven contests with a Thursday match-up at Hillsdale.  The Warriors then travel to Saginaw Valley State for a 5 p.m. tip on Saturday to close out their schedule against the GLIAC North Division.  The 9-1 start is tied for fourth best in school history with the 1992-93 team.  The 1980-81 squad began the season 11-0, and after a loss rattled off nine more wins.  The 1976-77 team (13-1) and last year's squad (11-1) have the other best starts in program history.

IN THE POLLS
WSU was ranked eighth in the Jan. 6th WBCA/USA Today National Poll, tied for the highest ranking (8th) in program history.  The Warriors are ranked eighth by the Massey Rankings and 15th in the D2SIDA poll.  Wayne State was predicted to finish first in the South Division in the GLIAC Preseason Media Poll.

THE SERIES
The Warriors trail the Chargers 34-35 in the all-time series.  WSU is 13-22 all-time at Hillsdale, but has won the last two.  Wayne State has a 5-1 mark in the last six meetings, including victories in the last three.

Wayne State has a 30-35 all-time mark versus Saginaw Valley State.  The Cardinals won last February in Detroit to end WSU's four-game series win streak.  The Warriors are 6-2 in the last eight contests vs. SVSU.

LAST TIME OUT
The 11th-ranked Wayne State Warriors recorded a 75-53 triumph over visiting Ferris State Sunday afternoon at the Matthaei to move into a tie for first place in the GLIAC overall standings with Michigan Tech.

WSU fell behind 2-0 as FSU won the opening tip at Dena Droste drained a jumper.  On its ensuing possession, Destiny Lavita-Stephens connected on her first of four first half triples.  The Bulldogs later knotted the game at five on a triple by Destiney Robinson at the 18:28 mark, before the Warriors responded with an 13-2 run over the next 2:45.  Lavita-Stephens hit two more three pointers, Shareta Brown added a triple of her own, along with a bucket each by Brown and Lavita-Stephens.

After taking the 11-point advantage (18-7), Wayne State's lead remained between six and nine points until a triple by Shannon Wilson at the 7:38 mark increased the margin to 12 (30-18).  A minute later, Wilson added a fast-break lay-up to push the lead to 14.

With 3:52 left before intermission, Lavita-Stephens hit another three-pointer giving Wayne State its largest lead of the opening 20 minutes at 15 (37-22).  FSU closed out the first half on a 9-4 run to pull within 10 (41-31) at the break.

Lavita-Stephens had 16 points at halftime, while Brown totaled 11 points and seven rebounds.  Droste led FSU with seven points.  The Warriors shot 49 percent (16-of-33) from the field, including 6-of-15 for 40 percent from beyond the arc.  WSU was granted just four free throw attempts in the first half compared to 14 for the Bulldogs, who shot 39 percent (9-of-23) from the floor.

Ferris State also scored first in the second half on a bucket by Christina Branch to make it an eight-point contest (41-33).  Wayne State answered with a 12-1 spurt over the next 5:45 keyed by four points from Brown, a triple by Lavita-Stephens, three points by Gabby Machado and a basket by Wilson.  The Bulldogs were within 12 on two occasions, but after the second instance (56-44 with 7:14 left), the Warriors went on a 9-0 run as FSU went scoreless for over three minutes.  Kristen Long started the run with a triple late in the shot clock, Ondrea Hughes added a pair of lay-ups, and Lavita-Stephens sank a pair from the charity stripe.  WSU shot 46 percent in the second half on 13-of-28, compared to 28 percent (8-of-29) for Ferris State.

Lavita-Stephens totaled a game-high 23 points which included five three-pointers and a 4-of-4 effort from the foul line.  Brown notched another double-double with 17 points, a game-high 13 rebounds along with a game-best four assists.  Hughes contributed 12 points and a game-high three steals.  No Bulldog reached double figures, but the visitors were led by Branch who had a team-best nine rebounds along with eight points.  Rachel McInerney also tallied eight points, off the bench, for FSU.  Wayne State held a 42-29 edge in rebounding leading to a 20-8 advantage in second-chance points.

Over the last four-plus games (167:13), Wayne State has led for 162:59, trailed for 1:10 and was tied for 2:14 giving WSU the lead 98 percent of the time and being tied for one percent.

SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
Hillsdale has won four of its last five contests with the only blemish being a seven-point setback (96-89) at Walsh last Friday.  Senior forward Megan Fogt, the reigning GLIAC Player of the Year, leads the Chargers in scoring (15.5 ppg), rebounding (10.2 rpg), blocked shots (15), steals (18) and field goal percentage (59.2/58-of-98).  Junior guard Kayla Geffert is second in scoring (10.1 ppg), while senior guard Kadie Lowery is third in scoring (8.8 ppg) but first in triples (18) and second in assists (21).  Junior guard Madison Berry has a team-best 26 assists.  Ten players average at least 10 minutes a game for coach Claudette Charney.

The Cardinals are 0-6 in league play despite compiling a 5-1 non-conference mark heading into Thursday's game vs. Findlay.  Sophomore forward Emily Wendingling is averaging a double-double at 17.2 points per game and 10.5 rebounds per contest.  Junior guard Danielle Carriere leads SVSU in triples (19) and is second in scoring (12.9 ppg).  Senior forward Samantha Zirzow is shooting a team-high 51 percent (44-of-86) from the field and is averaging 11.6 ppg.  Freshman guard Jessica Alexander has started all 12 games and is leading the squad in assists (29) and steals (19).

NATIONAL STATISTICS
In the Jan. 4th NCAA stats report, Wayne State was seventh in all of Division II in both team field goal percentage (47.6%), and rebounding margin (+10.5).  The Warriors are also ranked seventh in both scoring margin (+21.2) and field goal percentage defense (34.1%), while ranking 15th in scoring defense (56.5 ppg), and 25th in scoring offense (77.7 ppg) and 26th in fewest turnovers per game (14.1).

In terms of individual national statistics, Shareta Brown leads the nation in total rebounds per contest (16.2) and defensive rebounds per game (11.0).  Brown is fourth in both offensive rebounds per game (5.0) and both field goal percentage (65.3), while ranking fifth in scoring (22.3 ppg) and sixth in double-doubles (9).

In terms of active Division II players, Brown is first in career points (2,154), scoring average (19.9 ppg), field goal percentage (59.8%), rebounds (1,119), field goals made (745), free throws made (628) and attempted (854) as well as double-doubles (56).  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 is three more than Oregon's Jillian Alleyne who has 53.  Brown ranks fourth in games played (108 - 68 with Detroit and 40 at WSU), sixth in both rebounding average (10.4 rpg) and field goals attempted (1,246).  Jackie Jones is ninth in both assists average (3.78) and total assists (378).

Brown has 225 career assists, 74 blocked shots and 168 steals, while shooting 35.6 percent (36-of-101) from beyond the arc and 73.5 percent from the charity stripe.

NEXT UP
The Warriors will play their third consecutive road game at Tiffin (Jan. 15th at 6 p.m.) before returning to the Matthaei on Jan. 17 to face Ohio Dominican in the first Comcast television broadcast of the basketball season.

COMCAST/XFINITY/ALL-ACCESS
Beginning on Jan. 17th 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.