Women's Basketball | 2/5/2015 3:42:00 PM

STORYLINES
The 12th-ranked Wayne State women's basketball squad (17-2 overall, 13-2 GLIAC) begins the second round of playing GLIAC South Division opponents this Thursday (at home vs. Tiffin) and Saturday (at Ohio Dominican).  The Warriors went 7-1 versus the GLIAC North Division (Dec. 4-Jan. 10) and 6-1 in the first round through the GLIAC South Division.  WSU plays four of its next five games at home before finishing the regular season with back-to-back road games at Walsh and Findlay.

IN THE POLLS
WSU was ranked 12th in the Feb. 3rd WBCA/USA Today National Poll,two weeks after the highest ranking in program history (fifth).  The Warriors are ranked seventh by the Massey Rankings and 25th 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 three contests against the Dragons to take an 8-7 lead in the all-time series. The Warriors won at Tiffin, 91-52, on Jan. 15th in the last meeting.  Wayne State is 3-4 at home against TU.

Wayne State is 7-0 in the all-time series with Ohio Domincan. The Warriors last faced the Panthers at the Matthaei on Jan. 17th and recorded an 86-76 triumph.  WSU is 3-0 in games at Alumni Hall.

LAST TIME OUT
Wayne State cruised to a 93-70 win over Findlay at home on Monday evening by career performances from Shareta Brown and Destiny Lavita-Stephens.

Brown recorded the second-ever triple-double in program history with 24 points, 16 rebounds and 10 assists. She nearly completed the task in the second half alone as she tallied 20 points, 15 boards and seven assists in the final 20 minutes. The previous triple-double was accomplished by Stefani Munro who posted 11 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists against Ohio Dominican on Dec. 15, 2011.  Lavita-Stephens finished with a career-high 25 points and matched her career-best with five three-pointers.

With the win head Carrie Lohr has 74 victories, which is three wins shy of tying Gary Bryce (1984-92) for second place on the all-time wins list in program history.

The Oilers led early, 13-9, after two free throws at the 15:12 mark.  An old-fashioned three-point play from Ondrea Hughes on the next possession trimmed the deficit to one.  Lavita-Stephens and Brittany Streetman teamed up for back-to-back triples to put WSU on top 18-15 with 13:32 left in the half.  Lavita-Stephens followed with two free throws to extend the lead to 27-20 and pushed her scoring total to 15 of the Warriors' 27 points.

Kelsey Lewis tied the game at 29-29 with a jumper with 6:31 left before halftime.  Two free throws from Gabby Machado pushed the home lead to five, 36-31 with just under three minutes to play but the Oilers would finish the stanza strong trailing by two, 39-37, heading to the locker rooms.  Lavita-Stephens' 15 points led all scorers while WSU shot 56 percent (14-of-25) in the opening period. Findlay scored 21 points off 12 WSU turnovers.

Lavita-Stephens continued to have the hot hand in the second half with seven straight points including two three-pointers to match her previous career-high of 23 points.  WSU led 55-49 at the 16-minute mark.  A three-point play from Brown gave the Green & Gold a 10-point lead, 65-55, with 12:30 left to play. Brown continued to roll as she scored 11 consecutive points to propel WSU's advantage to 71-56 at the 10:35 mark.

Brown followed a Kristen Long triple with a bucket to extend to Warriors' lead to 20 points, 85-65, with four minutes remaining. WSU controlled the final three minutes and cruised to the 93-70 win.

Streetman posted her fourth consecutive double-digit scoring performance. The Warrior had their best shooting game of the season, finishing with a 61 percent (36-59) clip including an 11-of-15 mark from behind the arc.

The Warriors last scored at least 90 points in back-to-back regular-season games in 2004 when they beat Mercyhurst 102-73 and then Gannon 97-72. Earlier this season, WSU scored 94 points against Lawrence Tech and then 95 at Eastern Michigan but both were exhibition contests.

SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
The Dragons have lost five of their last six games.  Sophomore guard Kaylee Patton leads TU in scoring (12.2 points per game) and three-pointers made (40), while sophomore center Bre Nauman is second in scoring (11.8 ppg) but first in rebounding (7.0 rpg).  Sophomore guard Deidre McKay leads the squad in assists (64) and steals (24), while freshman center Shelby Cheston has a team-high 18 blocked shots.  Sophomore forward Anya Misko is second in both rebounding (5.6 rpg) and steals (22).

Ohio Dominican has lost its last two games after a modest two-game winning streak.  Senior guard Kacee Hockenberry leads the Panthers in scoring (15.8 ppg) and three-pointers made (35).  Junior forward Melissa Scherpenberg is first in rebounding (10.8 rpg) and second in both scoring (10.9 ppg) and field goal percentage (45.4%/64-141).  Sophomore guard Lauren Bates leads ODU with 37 steals, while sophomore forward Madi Rittinger has a team-high 43 blocked shots.  Senior guard Micaela Liddane has 66 assists.

NATIONAL STATISTICS
In the Feb. 1st NCAA stats report, Wayne State was fourth in all of Division II in team field goal percentage (47.0%).  The Warriors are 13th in both scoring margin (+16.3) and scoring offense (78.4 ppg), 15th in winning percentage (88.9%) and 27th in rebounding margin (+6.9) .  WSU is 35th in assist/turnover ratio (+1.03) and 43rd in steals per game (10.2).

In terms of individual national statistics, Shareta Brown leads the nation in field goal percentage (65.1), total rebounds per contest (14.6) and offensive rebounds per game (6.0).  She is alos second nationally in double-doubles (16), while ranking seventh in defensive rebounds per game (9.0) and third in scoring (21.8 ppg).

In terms of active Division II players, Brown is first in career points (2,323), scoring average (20.0 ppg), rebounds (1,219), field goals made (802), free throws made (680) and attempted (915) as well as double-doubles (63).  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 (60.1%), third in games played (116 - 68 with Detroit and 48 at WSU), eighth in rebounding average (10.5 rpg) and eighth in field goals attempted (1,334).  Jackie Jones is ninth in total assists (412) and 10th in assists average (3.81).

Brown has 245 career assists, 81 blocked shots and 179 steals, while shooting 35.8 percent (39-of-109) from beyond the arc and 74.3 percent from the charity stripe.

NEXT UP
The Warriors will start another three-game homestead on Feb. 12 against Lake Erie.

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).

COMCAST/XFINITY/ALL-ACCESS
The final four home women's and men's basketball doubleheaders 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.

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.