The Warriors are 4-1 this season.

Women's Basketball 11/27/2022 2:00:00 PM Zachary Manning, Sports Information Graduate Assistant

Women's Basketball Heads on Two-Game Road Trip

The Warriors have won four straight games.

STORYLINES
Wayne State enters this week's games having won four consecutive contests, including victories over #17-Carson-Newman and Walsh in the Warrior Holiday Tournament, which took place on Nov. 22 and 23 at the Wayne State Fieldhouse.

The Warriors will head to New York to play D'Youville University for the first time in program history before starting GLIAC play at Saginaw Valley State on Dec. 3.

SERIES HISTORY
Wayne State and D'Youville have never shared the court together and will play for the first time on Nov. 28 inside the College Center Gym.

WSU has earned a 6-4 record against the Cardinals over the last 10 contests, but Saginaw Valley State still leads the all-time series at 42-38. Last year, the Warriors split a pair of games with SVSU, claiming a 70-62 overtime victory on Feb. 3, 2022, in Detroit, after falling 69-67 at SVSU on Jan. 2, 2022.

SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
The Saints have struggled to score, as they enter Monday's match-up averaging under 50 points per contest. The leading scorer for D'Youville is Brianne Moxley, who is pouring in 14.3 points per game on 39 percent shooting from the field.

Anna Jankovic and Stella Mollica are each averaging better than nine points per contest. The trio of Moxley, Jankovic and Mollica are each playing more than 35 minutes per game this season.
Defensively, Mollica is averaging 2.3 steals and Moxley is averaging 1.7 steals per game. Sofie Fuglsang is blocking 1.3 shots and playing better than 30 minutes per contest.

Saginaw Valley will host Tiffin on Tuesday before entertaining the Warriors on Saturday.

When it comes to SVSU, there are two players the Warriors must contain. Kaitlyn Zarycki and Tori DePerry score more than 55 percent of the teams points per game.

Zarycki is scoring 21.2 points per game, while DePerry has added 16.7 points per contest. A First Team All-GLIAC performer last season, Zarycki is shooting 57 percent from the field and 42 percent from beyond the arc.

DePerry and Zarycki are also the top defensive options for the Cardinals, as they are the top two rebounders on the team (8.0 and 6.3 RPG, respectively) and have combined to average four steals per contest.

LAST TIME OUT
Wayne State extended its winning streak to four with a 54-47 triumph over visiting Walsh University to conclude the 2022 Warrior Holiday tournament. WSU upended 17th-ranked Carson-Newman 81-61 on November 22.

Walsh scored the first four points before WSU rallied with five consecutive points by Becca Fugate on a lay-up and a triple. In a game of streaks, the Cavaliers responded with a 5-0 run for a 9-5 lead.

Back-to-back buckets by Alyssa Leister tied the game at 9-9, before WU's Morgan McMillen connected on a jumper giving the guests an 11-9 advantage. The Cavaliers led 12-9 after 10 minutes.

A lay-up by Walsh's Kiley Dyrlund on the opening possession of the second period followed by a triple from Faith Williams 86 seconds later extended the visitors lead to eight (17-9). Wayne State pulled within four (19-15) on a basket by Maxine Moore and two foul shots by Ashley Bower. The Cavaliers had their largest lead of the game at nine (26-17) following a triple by Emma Dretke with 3:47 left before intermission. The Warriors closed the half on a 7-2 run making it a four-point game (28-24) at halftime. Fugate had the final five WSU points of the first half.

Walsh scored the first four points of the second half, prior to a lay-up from Bower at the 8:04 mark. A 9-0 run by Wayne State turned a 35-28 deficit into a 37-35 lead. A steal by Leister followed by a triple ignited the run which also included a lay-up by Taylor Thompson, a lay-up by Leister, and a go-ahead jumper by Shea Tripp. A conventional three-point play by Dyrlund put the Cavaliers in front 38-37, and preceded a pair of lead changes and a game-tying jumper by Leister near the end of the period.

With the score knotted at 41-41 and 10 minutes to play, Wayne State turned up its defense only allowing Walsh to make one two-point field goal (1-of-9 on two-point field goal attempts), one triple (1-of-3 from beyond the arc), and one foul shot (1-of-3 from the charity stripe) in the final stanza as WSU out-scored the guests 13-6 in the quarter.

Tripp connected on her lone three-point attempt of the game on WSU's second possession of the period, then scored off a feed from Fugate the next trip down the court prompting a Walsh time-out. The Cavaliers scored the next five points before Fugate split a pair of free throws. A Leister lay-up from Tripp with just over four minutes left extended the margin to three at 49-46. WU's Williams made the first of two foul shot attempts with 2:27 remaining, but it would be the final points of the game for the visitors as Wayne State secured the win with two baskets from Tripp and a free throw from Fugate.

STARTING STRONG
The Warriors have received some key performances, which have helped spark a 4-1 start to the season.

Through five games, Shea Tripp has filled the stat sheet and leads the Warriors in just about every statistical category. She is averaging 12.2 points, 8.8 rebounds, 5.4 assists and 3.2 steals per contest. Additionally, she is shooting 47 percent from the field.

Becca Fugate has provided sound veteran leadership for the Warriors, as she has started all five contests and is averaging 11.4 points and 5.6 rebounds per game. She is tied for the team lead with six triples.

Alyssa Leister is averaging 11.4 points off the bench on 61 percent shooting from the field. She is also making 80 percent (8-of-10) from the charity stripe.

A name to watch going forward will be Taylor Thompson, as she has been a spark plug off the bench for the Warriors over the last two contests.

On the opening day of the Warrior Holiday Tournament, Thompson tallied a career-high 13 points, while adding four rebounds in just 14 minutes of action. She followed that with six points, five rebounds and three steals in the victory over Walsh the next day.

NEARLY IN THE RECORD BOOKS
Wayne State sophomore Shea Tripp almost became the third player in program history to record a triple-double, with her incredible performance against Walsh on the final day of the Warrior Holiday Tournament.

Tripp finished the contest with an impressive 13 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists. She also tallied two steals vs. the Cavaliers.

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Players Mentioned

#10 Ashley Bower: G; 5' 10"; Freshman

#4 Becca Fugate: G; 5' 7"; Senior

#2 Alyssa Leister: G; 5' 10"; Sophomore

#42 Maxine Moore: F; 6' 0"; Redshirt Senior

#5 Taylor Thompson: F; 5' 11"; Freshman

#23 Shea Tripp: F; 5' 10"; Sophomore

Players Mentioned

#10 Ashley Bower
: 5' 10"; Freshman
: G

#4 Becca Fugate
: 5' 7"; Senior
: G

#2 Alyssa Leister
: 5' 10"; Sophomore
: G

#42 Maxine Moore
: 6' 0"; Redshirt Senior
: F

#5 Taylor Thompson
: 5' 11"; Freshman
: F

#23 Shea Tripp
: 5' 10"; Sophomore
: F