Women's Basketball | 2/12/2015 11:21:00 AM

STORYLINES
The 12th-ranked Wayne State women's basketball squad (19-2 overall, 15-2 GLIAC) begins its final regular-season home game stretch hosting Lake Erie Thursday (5:30 p.m.) and Ashland on Saturday (1 p.m.). The final home game of the season will be Feb.19 against Malone (5:30 p.m.) where the seniors will be recoginized.

IN THE POLLS
WSU was ranked 12th  in the Feb. 3rd WBCA/USA Today National Poll, three weeks after the highest ranking in program history (fifth).  The Warriors are ranked sixth by the Massey Rankings and 23rd in the D2SIDA poll.  Wayne State was predicted to finish first in the South Division in the GLIAC Preseason Media Poll.

THE SERIES
WSU has won the last four meetings vs. the Storm to take a 5-2 lead in the all-time series. The Warriors won 69-50 in Painesville, on Jan. 22nd in the last meeting.  Wayne State is 2-1 all-time at home against LEC.

Wayne State trails 15-32 in the all-time series against the Eagles.  The last three series meetings have all taken place in Ashland with WSU going 1-2.  The Warriors are 9-14 at home against AU and have lost two straight (77-58 on Dec. 5, 2012; and 112-75 on Jan. 26, 2012).

LAST TIME OUT
The 12th-ranked Wayne State Warriors scored the first 11 points of the game and led from start to finish in an 87-67 triumph Saturday afternoon at Ohio Dominican University (7-15 overall, 4-12 GLIAC).

Gabby Machado made the first bucket, Shareta Brown scored from inside, then Jackie Jones grabbed a defensive rebound and went coast-to-coast to make it 6-0.  Brown had a conventional three-point play and Machado ended the run with a jumper.

The Panthers pulled within nine on three occasions (11-2, 13-4, and 15-6) before a modest 5-0 run by the Warriors pushed the lead to 14 (20-6) at the 12:42 mark.  The advantage remained between 12 and 18 for the next eight minutes until Brown split a pair at the charity stripe to increase the margin to 19 (38-19) with 4:42 left.

Wayne State led 41-24 at intermission which included an 8-0 edge in second-chance points.  Brown totaled 12 points, seven rebounds and three assists while playing 13 minutes in the opening half.  The Warriors shot 50 percent (14-of-28) from the field.  ODU was limited to 29 percent (10-of-34) with Micaela Liddane scoring a team-best seven points.

After Ohio Dominican cut its deficit to 15 (49-34) on a layup by Jackie Oestreich, WSU responded with a 10-3 spurt to grab a 22-point lead (59-37).  Brown had five points during the run, while Destiny Lavita-Stephens added one of her three triples in the game and Ondrea Hughes.

The Panthers whittled away at WSU's advantage and pulled within 13 (67-54) with 8:21 remaining on a jumper by Darian Rose.  The hosts would get within 12 four times in the five minutes, before Wayne State ended the contest on an 8-0 run as Brittany Streetman hit a pair from beyond the arc.

Brown finished with game-high totals of 33 points and 20 rebounds, which included 12 offensive boards the same number as the entire ODU squad.  Machado contributed 12 points with Streetman and Jones each adding 11 points.  Jones tallied a game-best seven assists with both Brown and Streetman dishing out four assists apiece.

Kacee Hockenberry led Ohio Dominican with 20 points on 8-of-19 shooting, while Liddane added 10 points.

The Warriors held a 47-29 edge in rebounding and a 24-0 advantage in second-chance points.

SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
Lake Erie is 2-2 in its last four games after a nine-game losing streak.  Freshman guard Kayla Gabor leads the Storm in scoring (13.0 points per game) and three-pointers made (28).  Junior center Kaeding Skelton is second in both scoring (7.2 ppg) and rebounding (5.3 rpg).  Junior guard Sami Narducci leads LEC in steals (45) and is third in scoring (6.7 ppg).  Freshman center Christine Dawson has team-high totals in blocked shots (23), rebounding (120 boards) and field goal percentage (51.0%/51-100).

The Eagles have won eight straight since a two-game losing skein.  Senior guard Taylor Woods leads AU in scoring (14.0 ppg), assists (87) and three-pointers made (69), while freshman center Laina Snyder has team-high totals in rebounds (8.5 rpg), steals (44) and field goal percentage (53.8%/127-236).  Snyder (13.9 ppg) and classmate Andi Daugherty (11.9 ppg) are second and third in scoring, with Daugherty leading the squad in blocked shots (31) while ranking second in rebounding (8.4 rpg).

NATIONAL STATISTICS
In the Feb. 8th NCAA stats report, Wayne State was third in all of Division II in team field goal percentage (48.0%).  The Warriors are sixth in scoring offense (80.1 ppg), 10th in winning percentage (90.5, %)12th in scoring margin (+16.9) and 19th in rebounding margin (+7.5) .  WSU is 26th in assist/turnover ratio (+1.07) and 34th in assists per game (15.7).

In terms of individual national statistics, Shareta Brown leads the nation in field goal percentage (64.4), total rebounds per contest (14.6) and offensive rebounds per game (6.0).  She is also tied-for-first nationally in double-doubles (18), while ranking eighth in defensive rebounds per game (9.0) and third in scoring (22.0 ppg).

In terms of active Division II players, Brown is first in career points (2,393), scoring average (20.1 ppg), rebounds (1,263), field goals made (832), free throws made (689) and attempted (929) as well as double-doubles (65).  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.  She is tied-for-first among current Division II players in games played (119 - 68 with Detroit and 51 at WSU).  Brown ranks third in field goal percentage (60.2%), sixth in rebounding average (10.6 rpg) and eighth in field goals attempted (1,383).  Jackie Jones is ninth in total assists (425) and 12th in assists average (3.83).

Brown has 263 career assists, 83 blocked shots and 186 steals, while shooting 35.4 percent (40-of-113) from beyond the arc and 74.2 percent from the charity stripe.

NEXT UP
The Warriors will have Senior Night on Feb. 19, before visiting Walsh on Saturday (Feb. 21).

COMCAST/XFINITY/ALL-ACCESS
The final three home women's and men's basketball doubleheaders will be broadcast live throughout the state of Michigan on Comcast CN900.  Every home game will have a video webcast through WSUAthletics.com.

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.

1,000-POINT SCORER
Senior center Shareta Brown became the 16th women's basketball player in the 41-year history of the program with 1,000 points on her first bucket against Findlay just 31 seconds into the contest.  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).