Women's Basketball | 12/23/2016 11:15:00 AM

STORYLINES
Wayne State will conclude its 2016 slate with the final non-conference game of the season on Friday, Dec. 30 as the Yellow Jackets of Cedarville visit the Matthaei.  The Warriors have lost four straight since a four-game winning streak from Nov. 23 through Dec. 3.  All 16 games in 2017 will be GLIAC contests.  Five of WSU's 11 games have been decided by three points or less with four of the setbacks coming by a combined 12 points.

THE SERIES
Wayne State won the inaugural meeting against the Yellow Jackets, 87-78, at Cedarville on Dec. 30, 2015.  In that contest, Brittany Streetman connected on three triples in scoring a game-best 24 points, while Christina Green added a career-high 19 points.

SCOUTING THE OPPONENT
The Yellow Jackets have played six of their last seven games at home (not including the Dec. 28 exhibition contest at Miami University) compiling a 6-1 mark.  Cedarville lost its first three games of the season, all against GLIAC opponents (91-45 to Ashland, 67-35 to Ohio Dominican and 70-63 at Tiffin).

Junior guard Regina Hochstetler leads CU in scoring (15.2 points per game), assists (33) and free throw percentage (88.6 / 39-of-44), while ranking second in three-pointers made (27) and steals (10).  Sophomore guard Baylee Bennett is second in scoring (12.3 ppg) and assists (28), but leads the squad in triples made (29).  Junior forward Emily Williams is one of three CU players averaging over seven rebounds per contest.  She also leads the team in blocked shots (16).  Junior forward Taylor Buckley (7.7 rpg) and junior Breanne Watterworth (7.2 rpg) are the other rebounding leaders for first-year head coach Kari Hoffman, who spent the previous six seasons as an assistant at CU.  Watterworth is the third player averaging in double figures at 10.9 ppg.

LAST WEEK RECAP
Wayne State concluded its pre-holiday schedule with a home setback to Ohio Dominican (69-68) on Dec. 15, before falling at No. 23-ranked Lewis University (75-58) on Dec. 19.

The Warriors led by six points (52-46) entering the fourth quarter against the Panthers, and again led by six (54-48) following a Jessica Murphy lay-up at the 8:48 mark.  WSU's advantage remained between two and six points until a jumper by Shannon Wilson increased the margin to seven (65-58) with 3:44 left.  ODU tallied the next five points to pull within two (65-63), before Ja'Nae Williams split a pair from the charity stripe with 2:38 remaining.

A jumper by Panther Madi Rittinger and two foul shots by Megan Eyre gave the visitors a one point lead at 67-66 with 31.6 seconds left.  After a blocked shot by Rittinger and a defensive rebound by ODU's Lauren Bates, Lindsey Blanford sank a pair of free throws with 11.5 seconds remaining pushing the WSU deficit to three (69-66).  Wilson made a lay-up with 0.5 seconds left to complete the scoring.

The first quarter was back-and-forth with five lead changes and five ties, with WSU holding the largest lead at four (17-13) at the end of the period.  Nastassja Chambers tallied 10 first stanza points for the Warriors as she was 4-of-5 from the field and 2-of-2 at the foul line.

Twice in the first three minutes of the second quarter, ODU cut the Wayne State advantage to two (19-17 and 22-20) but each time the Warriors answered with a triple, first by India Hawkins and the second by Murphy.

With WSU holding a 27-20 lead with 5:02 left before intermission, the Panthers scored seven straight points to knot the game, before Daejia Hill split a pair of free throws giving the Warriors a 28-27 lead at halftime.

There were two ties and two lead changes in the third quarter as ODU took a 30-28 lead on a triple by Darian Rose and then led by three (33-30) following a long-range shot by Rittinger.  A conventional three-point play by Chambers tied the contest at 33-33.  The Warriors led the rest of the period and even led by eight (52-44) with 65 seconds left in the stanza, following a steal by Hill and a fast-break lay-up by Chambers.

Wayne State shot 39 percent (26-of-66) from the floor, compared to 42 percent (28-of-67) for ODU.  The Warriors were just 4-of-18 (22 percent) from beyond the arc, with the Panthers shooting 27 percent (6-of-22) from three-point range.  WSU was solid from the foul line making 12-of-15 for 80 percent, while Ohio Dominican made 7-of-10 from the charity stripe.  ODU had a 43-39 edge in rebounding and a 19-9 advantage in second-chance points.

Chambers scored a game-high and a career-best 23 points, while also tying for the team lead in assists with three.  Wilson contributed 13 points, with Payton Birchmeier grabbing a team-best seven rebounds, including five offensive boards.  Sarah Ruhstorfer dished out three assists and had two steals.

In the loss at Lewis, Wayne State led 7-4 after a bucket from Christina Green at the 7:21 mark.  Lewis led 17-12 at the 3:22 mark.  A Flyers triple extended the home lead to 22-15 at the two-minute mark.  However, the Warriors ended the period on an 8-0 run including two three-pointers from India Hawkins to take a 23-22 advantage after 10 minutes of play.

WSU notched the first five points of the second quarter to push the rally to 13-0 and the lead to 28-22.  The spurt included another trey from Hawkins, her third of the contest.  After Lewis tied the game at 28-28 with 6:32 remaining in the first half, Nastassja Chambers connected from deep to keep WSU on top.  Green kept the three-point lead in tact (35-32) with a basket at the 2:45 mark.  LU's Jamie Johnson drove to the basket to give her team a one-point lead at halftime, 38-37.  The Green & Gold made seven of its 12 three-point attempts.

Lewis scored the first seven points of the third stanza to take a 45-37 lead at the 7:17 mark as WSU missed its first nine field goal attempts after intermission.  Ja'Nae Williams put WSU on the board in the second half with a basket at the 5:35 mark.  Lewis began to assert its will and led 51-41 and eventually 56-41 with just over four minutes remaining in the quarter.  After the third quarter, the Warriors trailed 62-41, scoring just four points in the third period.

The Flyers continued to control the tempo and led 66-45 upon the arrival of the quarter's media timeout.  An Alex Matus triple trimmed the home lead to 70-53 with four minutes left to play.  The Flyers would cruise to a 75-58 victory.

Chambers led WSU with 11 points, while Hawkins tallied nine points and Green finished with eight points.  Wayne State knocked down a season-high 11 three-pointers including seven first-half treys.

IN THE POLLS
The Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) announced its women's basketball preseason poll and Wayne State was predicted to finish sixth in the GLIAC North Division with 17 points.  Grand Valley State was selected as the top team in the North Division, while Ashland was named the preseason favorite in the South Division.

CHAMBERS CONTRIBUTING ALL-AROUND THE COURT
Freshman Nastassja Chambers has made an impact in her first 11 collegiate contests.  She is leading the squad in points (161), field goal percentage (.523 / 58-of-111), free throw percentage (.824 / 42-of-51), assists (26), steals (23) and minutes played per game (30.4).  Chambers also leads the team in field goals made (58) and free throws made (42).

WILSON LEADING THE SCORING PARADE
Junior Shannon Wilson, who was last year's leading scorer, has picked up this year where she left off last season.  She has led WSU in scoring three times this year, notching double figure totals in seven of the nine games she has played (and nine points in one other game).  Dating back to last season, Wilson has scored in double figures in 10 of 12 contests.  She has made a three-pointer in 12 of her last 15 contests.

WILLIAMS MAKING MOST OF HER OPPORTUNITY
After playing just 68 minutes last year at IUPUI, sophomore Ja'Nae Williams has started eight times this season and is averaging nearly 23 minutes a contest.  She has scored in double figures four times with another two games of nine points each.  Williams has had at least one assist in every game but one, including a career-best three helpers at Lewis.

COMCAST/XFINITY
Every women's basketball home game beginning in 2017 will be aired live throughout the state of Michigan on Comcast CN 900.  Sean Baligian, Rod Beard and Joe Abramson will call the action.

WARRIOR ALL-ACCESS
All  Wayne  State  home  women's  basketball  games  can  be  watched  via  Warrior All-Access for a $5.95 per game fee.  All 14 home contests during the 2016-17 season will be available on All-Access.