CANTON, Ohio -- The Wayne State University women's basketball team (10-16, 5-15 GLIAC) played its final road game of the season on Thursday night at Malone (8-17, 5-15 GLIAC) and fell 72-69.
The Warriors had a chance to tie the game at the end of regulation but
Shannon Wilson's three-pointer attempt was no good. WSU made more field goals, three pointers and committed eight less turnovers but MU's 17 made free throws to WSU's 10 was the difference.
HOW IT HAPPENED- A
Tori Bellamy (Davison, Mich.) layup put WSU up 6-5 at the 6:37 mark of the opening quarter.
India Hawkins (Detroit, Mich. / Edison Public School Academy) kept the lead at one (11-10) with a three-pointer with 4:35 left in the stanza. The Green & Gold took advantage of the Pioneers one made field goal over the final 5:30 end the quarter leading 20-15.
Ashley Wilson (Portage, Mich. / Northern) and
Shannon Wilson (West Bloomfield, Mich. / Bloomfield Hills) combined for the final nine points of the quarter.
- The visitors lead reached eight two minutes into the second quarter after a triple from
Brittany Streetman (Warren, Mich. / Lincoln) and another basket from
Ashley Wilson. A trey from
Paige Villemure (Flat Rock, Mich.) kept the eight-point lead in tact at the six-minute mark. Following a steal by Hawkins, a foul and two free throws from the freshman guard, WSU lead 32-20 at the 5:14 mark. A quick 9-2 run capped by a bucket from Rachel Goddard cut the deficit to one (34-33) with 1:29 to play before halftime.
Kristen Long (Durand, Mich.) knocked down a key three-pointer to slow the Pioneers' momentum and give WSU a 37-33 lead with just over one minute remaining. Wayne State led 37-34 at halftime despite Malone ending the half on a 14-5 and the Warriors making just two field goals over the final five minutes.
- Two jumpers from Tara Schaffter gave MU a 39-38 at the eight-minute mark of the third quarter. The lead changed hands six times and the games was tied at 53-53 with 23 seconds left in the quarter after
Kelsey Bonewits (Griffith, Ind.) split a pair of free throws. With 10 minutes to play, Malone led 55-53.
- MU started the fourth quarter on a 6-0 run to extend lead to 61-53 with 7:19 remaining. A Long triple and a Streetman free throw pulled WSU within four (61-57) at the 5:55 mark. However, Bri Libertore's layup concluded a 7-2 run to give MU a 68-59 advantage.
Ashley Wilson connected on a mid-range jumper to trim MU's lead to 68-65 with 90 seconds left in regulation.
Brooke Wallace (Oberlin, Ohio / Amherst Steele) pulled down an offensive rebound and was fouled after
Shannon Wilson's potential game-tying three-pointer missed. Wallace connected on both free throws to make it a one-point game with 50 seconds remaining. MU answered with a three-point play from Goddard. Trailing by two after a layup from
Shannon Wilson and a free throw from Goddard,
Ashley Wilson grabbed a rebound after a missed free throw with 11 seconds left.
Shannon Wilson's three-point attempt to tie the game missed and MU escaped with a three-point victory, 72-69.
LEADING THE WARRIORS-
Shannon Wilson led WSU with 17 points, while
Ashley Wilson scored 13 and Wallace added 10 points for her second career double-digit scoring performance.
LEADING THE PIONEERS- Schaffter finished with a game-high 22 points.
- Libertore notched a double-double with 11 points and 13 rebounds.
- Goddard contributed 17 points.
UP NEXT- WSU will return to Detroit to host Walsh on Saturday at 1 p.m. The game will air live on Comcast 900.
