NORTH CANTON, Ohio – The Wayne State University women's basketball squad (5-8 overall, 2-4 GLIAC) resumed league play with an 81-72 overtime setback at Walsh University (8-6 overall, 4-3 GLIAC) Thursday evening. It was WSU's second overtime loss in league play this year, both on the road.
HOW IT HAPPENED
After falling behind 5-0 in the first three minutes, the Warriors responded with a 11-0 run starting with a lay-up by freshman
Nastassja Chambers (Ypsilanti, Mich. / Arbor Prep) and ending with a Chambers jumper. In between, sophomore
India Hawkins (Detroit, Mich. / Edison Public School Academy) drained a three before senior
Christina Green (Southfield, Mich. / Lathrup) and junior
Payton Birchmeier (Corunna, Mich.) had back-to-back buckets in a 35-second span.
Walsh's Emily Westphal split a pair from the charity stripe to end the Cavaliers scoreless drought of over five minutes. Another three pointer by Hawkins was followed by five consecutive points by the hosts to cut the Warrior advantage to 14-11 after the first quarter.
Brittni Clopton, who scored six points in overtime, continued the Walsh scoring streak before sophomore
Paige Villemure (Flat Rock, Mich.) converted an old-fashioned three-point play. Walsh answered with back-to-back triples by Clopton and Allison Butler for a 19-17 lead. A Hawkins lay-up tied the contest at 19-19, but the Cavaliers ended the first half by scoring 13 of the final 20 points for a 32-26 advantage at intermission.
The teams traded hoops in the early going of the third period, before Hawkins connected from beyond the arc and Green added three consecutive points to knot the game at 36-36. The rest of the stanza was nearly even with Walsh holding a 15-14 scoring edge to lead 51-50 after 30 minutes.
A Hawkins triple, her fourth of the contest and a lay-up by junior
Shannon Wilson (W. Bloomfield, Mich. / Bloomfield Hills) pushed the Warriors ahead 55-51. Wilson made a pair of foul shots to end a 4-0 spurt by Walsh, and Hawkins made it a four-point margin (59-55) with a lay-up.
Following a Walsh bucket, Hawkins hit a baseline three pointer with just over 5:30 remaining in regulation, but the Warriors would not make another field goal until a minute into overtime. WSU did make 5-of-6 free throws, but the Cavaliers hit two triples in the final 1:50 sandwiched around a jumper, with the final three points coming on a step-back long-range jumper by Brooklyn Wooten with 5.6 seconds left to tie the game at 67-67.
In overtime, Chambers made WSU's lone field goal just a minute in to tie the game at 69-69, but the Warriors would go 0-for-4 from the floor with a turnover in the final four minutes of the extra session. Meanwhile, Walsh would make 3-of-4 shots from the floor and 6-of-8 from the foul line the rest of the way.
TEAM STATS
Wayne State shot 36 percent (23-of-64) from the field compared to 34 percent (24-of-70) for the Cavaliers. The Warriors were 7-of-20 (35 percent) from long range with WU making 7-of-23 (30 percent) from beyond the arc. WSU shot 79 percent from the foul line (19-of-24), while Walsh was 26-of-30 (87 percent).
Walsh led in rebounds 56-37 and second-chance points 15-4, with WSU holding the edge in points in the paint (32-24), fast-break points (10-4) and bench points (39-23).
WSU LEADERS
Hawkins tallied a career-high 19 points to lead four Warriors in double figures. Green chipped in with 14 points, while Wilson contributed 13 points. Chambers had her 12
th straight game in double figures scoring 10 points before fouling out. Birchmeier grabbed a team-best 10 rebounds.
WALSH LEADERS
Clopton had a team-high 17 points with Alex Hochstedler adding 16 points including 14-of-15 at the charity stripe. Jalynn Graham garnered a double-double with 10 points and 12 rebounds.
UP NEXT
Wayne State will conclude play against the GLIAC South Division with a 1 p.m. contest on Saturday at Findlay.
