Women's Basketball | 3/12/2015 8:30:00 AM

DETROIT -- The 19th-ranked Wayne State University women's basketball team (22-5) begin play in its third straight NCAA Tournament on Friday against sevent-ranked Drury (26-3). The Warriors are the sixth seed in the Midwest region for the third straight season while the Panthers enter as the three-seed.

STORYLINES
The 19th-ranked Wayne State women's basketball squad (22-5 overall, 18-4 GLIAC) earned the sixth seed for the NCAA Midwest Regional Tournament and will face the No. 3-seeded Drury Panthers (No. 7 nationally USA Today/WBCA) this Friday at noon in Houghton, Mich.  Michigan Tech is the No. 1 seed and will host the first three rounds of the NCAA Midwest Regional Tournament.

The Warriors played the 1,100th game in program history in the GLIAC Quarterfinal contest against Walsh.  WSU is 4-3 all-time in NCAA Tournament games, including a 4-0 mark in neutral site contests.  This is the third consecutive year Wayne State has qualified for the NCAA Tournament, and fourth total, since the NCAA incorporated women's basketball.  From 1975 through 1981, WSU participated in the SMAIAW (State of Michigan Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women) Tournament reaching the semifinals in both 1980 and 1981.  WSU and Lewis are the only two Midwest Regional schools to have qualified each of the last three seasons.

IN THE POLLS
WSU was tied-for-19th in the March 10th WBCA/USA Today National Poll, after the highest ranking in program history earlier this season (No. 5 on Jan. 20th).  The Warriors were 25th in last week's D2SIDA poll and were ranked 11th in the Massey Ratings as of March 9.  

Drury is ranked sixth in the Massey Ratings as the Midwest Region has Lewis at No. 3, Michigan Tech at No. 4, followed by the Panthers, Ashland (10th), WSU (11th), Southern Indiana (13th), Wisconsin-Parkside (23rd) and Cedarville (58th).  Four GLIAC teams -- Grand Valley State (16th), Northern Michigan (21st), Northwood (31st) and Walsh (38th) -- did not qualify for the NCAA Tournament.

THE SERIES
Last year's NCAA Sweet Sixteen contest in Springfield, Mo., was the first women's basketball meeting between the two schools, while the men's basketball squads have met twice with the road team winning each time (WSU 61-51 at Drury on 11-26-01; and DU prevailing 82-78 in Detroit on 12-15-12).

LAST TIME OUT 
The second-seeded Wayne State women's basketball team (22-5 overall) never led in falling to seventh-seeded Walsh University (20-9 overall) in the first round of the GLIAC Tournament at the Matthaei.

The visiting Cavaliers made their first nine field goal attempts, including five from three-point range as well as their first two free throw attempts, in garnering a 25-15 lead just 6:15 into the contest.  Walsh's Brooklyn Wooten made two triples in less than a minute in the early going, then WU's leading scorer Kelsey Funderburgh tallied seven consecutive Cavalier points to turn an 11-7 Walsh advantage into an 18-9 lead.

A 7-0 run by the Warriors cut the margin to three (25-22) at the 9:48 mark as Amber McCann and Shareta Brown scored from inside sandwiched around a three-pointer from Ondrea Hughes.  A couple of minutes later, back-to-back lay-ups by McCann made it a one-point game (30-29) with 7:42 left.

Walsh responded with a 10-2 run to open up a 10-point lead (41-31) on a triple by Audrey Badovick.  The WSU defense shut down the Cavaliers in the final six minutes before intermission allowing just one field goal and two free throws.  Meanwhile, the Warriors recorded 13 points including the last eight before halftime to cut the deficit to one (45-44) at the break.

The Cavaliers were 8-of-15 from beyond the arc in the opening 20 minutes and 7-of-14 from two-point range along with a 7-for-7 performance at the charity stripe.  The Warriors shot 50 percent from the floor in the first half on 17-of-34, including a 6-of-14 from three-point range.  Brown had a game-best 14 points at halftime, while Brittni Clopton led Walsh with 12 and Funderburgh had 11.

The Cavaliers started the second half on an 8-4 run to grab a five point lead at 53-48.  WSU was able to knot the game 59 on offensive rebound and put-back by Brown with 10:19 remaining.  The Warriors were able to get within one (62-61) on a fast-break lay-up by Brittany Streetman but the Cavaliers answered with a triple by Whitney Dabbelt just as the shot clock was expiring.  After an offensive rebound and basket by Brown with 8:25 left, neither team was able to score for the next 2:30 until a fast-break jumper by Badovick.  Streetman answered with a triple from the corner but Badovick hit her own shot from beyond the arc.

Brown scored again inside off a feed from Kristen Long to cut the Warrior deficit to two (70-68) with 4:48 remaining.  Another two minute drought by both teams preceded an offensive rebound and basket by Hughes to tie the game at 70 with 2:37 left. Both teams failed to score on their next possessions, but Badovick was able to score an uncontested fast-break lay-up with 1:09 remaining for the Cavaliers final points.  Brown was fouled on WSU's trip down the court and she made the second foul shot to make it 72-71.  Brown grabbed the rebound on Walsh's missed field goal attempt off an inbounds play, but Streetman was unable to get a shot off in the final seconds.

Brown recorded game-high totals of 23 points and 17 rebounds for her 23rd double-double of the season.  She also contributed three assists and three blocked shots.  Streetman added 12 points, while both McCann and Hughes totaled 10 points off the bench.

Funderburgh led four Walsh players in double figures with 20 points.  Badovick tallied 16 points off the bench, while Wooten and Clopton registered 13 and 12 points, respectively.  Both teams made 10 field goals in the final 20 minutes.  It was the second game this season that WSU never led (other was an 80-74 loss at home to Ashland).

 The Cavaliers made 13 triples in 25 attempts (52 percent), while the Warriors were 9-of-26 (35 percent) from three-point range.  Wayne State made 8-of-11 (73 percent) from the foul line, with WU going 9-for-10.  WSU led in points in the paint (36-18) and second-chance points (17-2), but trailed in points off turnovers (19-7) and fast-break points (12-2).

SCOUTING THE OPPONENT
Drury has qualified for the NCAA Tournament for the 12th time in the last 13 years and has an 18-8 mark all-time in NCAA Regional play along with a 2-3 record at the Elite Eight.  Three of the Panthers top five scorers are transfers.  Junior guard Annie Armstrong (Eckerd) leads DU in points (396), field goal percentage (.520 / 130-250), three-pointers made (51) and free throw percentage (.955 / 85-89).  Senior center Sanayika Shields is second in scoring (13.2 ppg), but leads the team in rebounds (8.4 pg) and blocked shots (15).  Junior guard Addy Roller (Wayne State College) has a team-best 95 assists and is third in scoring 10.6 ppg).  Sophomore guard Alice Heinzler (Ozarks) is second in triples made (42), while senior guard Shelby White has a team-high 57 steals.

NATIONAL STATISTICS
In the March 9th NCAA stats report, Wayne State was fourth in all of Division II in team field goal percentage (46.5%), while ranking ninth in both scoring offense (79.6 ppg) and rebounding margin (+9.5).  The Warriors are 17th in scoring margin (+14.5) and 27th in winning percentage (81.5).  WSU is 38th in assist/turnover ratio (+1.03), 41st in assists per game (15.3), 45th in offensive rebounds per game (15.0) and 51st in three-point field goal percentage (34.8%).

In terms of individual national statistics, Shareta Brown leads the nation in field goal percentage (64.3), total rebounds per contest (14.5) and offensive rebounds per game (6.0).  She is second in double-doubles (23) and triple-doubles (1), while ranking fourth in scoring (22.5 ppg) and 10th in defensive rebounds per game (8.0).

In terms of active Division II players, Brown is first in career points (2,539), scoring average (20.3 ppg), rebounds (1,348), field goals made (882), free throws made (735) and attempted (980) as well as double-doubles (70).  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 third among current Division II players in games played (125 - 68 with Detroit and 57 at WSU).  Brown ranks fourth in field goal percentage (60.4%), and eighth in both rebounding average (10.8 rpg) and field goals attempted (1,461).  Jackie Jones is 10th in total assists (442) and 13th in assists average (3.81).

Brown has 274 career assists, 89 blocked shots and 198 steals, while shooting 34.2 percent (40-of-117) from beyond the arc and 75.0 percent from the charity stripe.

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 off-season, 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 on Feb. 2 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).