Wayne State is 6-3 overall.

Women's Basketball 12/15/2022 8:39:00 AM Zachary Manning, Sports Information Graduate Assistant

Women's Basketball Hits the Road to Face Findlay

The all-time series is tied 22-22.

STORYLINES
Wayne State and Findlay are meeting on Monday for the first time in over three years. The squads are having opposite starts to the season in 2022. The Warriors check in at 6-3 overall, while UF enters Saturday's GMAC contest against Northwood at 4-6. The Warriors will face the Oilers at 6 PM inside Croy Gymnasium.

SERIES HISTORY
The all-time series, which began in 1990, is knotted at 22-22. Wayne State has been the better team of late capturing seven of the last 10 meetings, including an 81-75 triumph in the most recent match-up back in 2019.

SCOUTING THE OPPONENT
Nine different Oilers have started at least one contest this season, with four starting all four GMAC contests thus far. Kate Ellis is the team's leading scorer, averaging 12.5 points per game. She is shooting 55 percent from the field and just under 79 percent from the charity stripe, while grabbing a team-best 62 rebounds.

Chloe Callahan is scoring 10.4 points per contest, which ranks second on the team. Serena Samarone leads Findlay in both assists (26) and steals (15), while Lauren Hapgood has made a team-best 13 triples.

As an entire unit, Findlay turns the ball over nearly 19 times per contest and the Warriors have been able to force almost 20 turnovers per game. Along with holding opponents to under 25 percent shooting from beyond the arc, the Warriors will look to create extra possessions by forcing the Oilers into mistakes.

LAST WEEKEND RECAP
Behind a career night from Becca Fugate, Wayne State was able to defeat Purdue Northwest, 79-72, on Dec. 9 inside the Wayne State Fieldhouse.

Fugate scored a career-high 27 points, with 22 coming in the second half. She added six rebounds and a team-high five assists. Maxine Moore contributed 21 points on 9-of-13 shooting from the field, while grabbing five rebounds. Kate McArthur chipped in with six points, a game-high four steals and four assists.

WSU shot 49 percent (29-of-59) from the field, including 50 percent (8-of-16) from three-point range. The Warriors were solid at the charity stripe making 13-of-17 (77 percent). Meanwhile, the Pride were 26-of-59 (44 percent) from the floor, but just 3-of-19 (16 percent) from beyond the arc. PNW made 17 of its 25 free throw attempts (68 percent). Both teams had 34 rebounds in the contest.
Two days later at home against Parkside on Dec. 11, Wayne State was upended 87-79.

Becca Fugate led the way with 25 points, which marked her second consecutive contest with 20 or more points. Maxine Moore added a career-high 24 points to go along with 10 rebounds for WSU's second double-double of the season (Shea Tripp had a double-double in the home court win over Walsh last month).

Tripp filled the stat sheet with nine rebounds, eight assists, five points and three steals, while McArthur contributed seven points and seven assists.

Fugate scored right off the opening tip to put the Warriors in front 2-0. After a Parkside three-pointer, Taylor Thompson and Fugate would tack on five more points for the Green and Gold, making the score 7-3 in favor of WSU. After another Rangers three, Moore would hit a jumper to make the score 9-6 with 7:37 to play in the opening frame. Both offenses would go cold over the next few minutes. That was until a Kendal Zeiter three-pointer put the Rangers in front 12-10 with 3:36 to play in the quarter. Moments later, a Thompson jumper would knot the score at 12-12. But Parkside would close the stanza on an 8-1 run and take a 20-13 advantage into the second period.

Parkside continue to shoot well from beyond the arc, as Paty Gallasova drained a triple to extend Parkside's lead to 10 (23-13) early in the second stanza. A Zeiter three-point play later in the quarter would push that advantage to 13 (30-17). From there, triples by Moore and Fugate to go along with a free throw from Shea Tripp would help cut that lead to 30-24 with 3:45 to play in the half. Down the stretch, Hillary Griffin would bury a long-range jumper to bring WSU within five (37-32) with 1:38 to play in the opening 20 minutes. A Fugate jumper and three free throws by Parkside would send the visitors into the break with a 40-34 lead.

Gallasova and Fugate traded baskets in the opening seconds of the period to make the score 42-36, and Moore was able to cut Parkside's lead to four (42-38) after a pair of free throws. From there, the Rangers would go on a 7-0 run to take an 11-point advantage (49-38) with 7:35 to play in the period. A Fugate triple would stop the Rangers' momentum. With 3:51 to play in the period, a Moore jumper would bring the Warriors back to within five (50-45). Moore would then hit another jumper to stop a mini 4-0 Parkside run, making the score 54-47 with 2:54 to play in the frame. Kate McArthur would nail a jumper with just under two minutes to play to make the score 56-51 in favor of Parkside. After a Rangers bucket, Fugate would bring the Warriors to within four (58-54), thanks to another triple. Parkside pushed its lead back eight, but Moore hit another jumper in closing seconds to make the score 62-56 as the two teams headed to the final quarter.

Just like the end of the third period, a Moore jumper helped get the Warrior offense going in the final stanza. However, Parkside was able to answer on the other end with a triple to make the score 65-58 in favor of the Rangers. On their next possession, the Rangers forced a WSU timeout, as they hit another shot from long range to extend their lead to 10 (68-58). Out of the timeout, Tripp was able to slow things down and make a lay-up for the Green and Gold.

Following that, Moore continued her strong offensive performance, hitting yet another jumper. That offense was matched at the other end, as a 7-0 run in the middle part of the stanza helped Parkside build its lead back to 13 (78-65). Fugate and Moore responded by going five-of-five from the free throw line to bring WSU back within eight (78-70). From there, Parkside would not hit another field goal the rest of the contest, but nine made free throws were enough to close out an 87-79 victory for the Rangers.

Wayne State made just 40 percent (24-of-60) of its field goal attempts, but was a solid 44 percent (8-of-18) from beyond the arc and 82 percent (23-of-28) from the foul line. Parkside connected on 27 of its 56 (48 percent) shots from the floor with nearly half of its made field goals (13) being from three-point range. UWP was 20-of-26 (77 percent) from the charity stripe.

NATIONAL ATTENTION
With a solid start to the season and some key performances by players early on, the Warriors have put themselves in the national conversation in multiple statistical categories.

Nationally, Wayne State is ranked eighth in assists per game (18.3), 20th in three-point percentage defense (.242), 22nd in free throw percentage (.776), 23rd in field goal percentage (.458) and 48th in scoring offense (73.6).

Individually, Shea Tripp has been stuffing the stat sheet and ranks 38th in assists per game (4.6) and 68th in steals per game (2.56).

CAREER WEEKEND
As two of the only veteran leaders on this young Wayne State team, Maxine Moore and Becca Fugate were dialed in throughout the GLIAC home-opening weekend against Purdue Northwest and Parkside.

Against Purdue Northwest, Fugate was terrific, as she posted a career-high 27 points, while shooting 8-of-13 from the field, including 4-of-7 from beyond the arc. Her third made three-pointer of the night increased her career total to 100 triples.

She followed that performance with 25 points and five rebounds against Parkside, which included five three pointers.

Not to be outdone, Moore helped carry the load for Wayne State against the Pride and Rangers. Against PNW, Moore tallied 21 points and five rebounds, while shooting 9-of-13 from the field, including two three pointers.

Against Parkside, she was able to notch a career-high 24 points, while adding 10 rebounds. She shot 50 percent from the floor (8-of-16) and went 7-of-8 from the charity stripe.

Kate McArthur chipped in with 11 assists and four steals in the two contests.

SKIPPING THE SOPHOMORE JINX
Wayne State sophomores Alyssa Leister and Shea Tripp are proving that the second year in college is not a down year. Leister has already scored more points and dished out more assists than last year, while making 11 more field goals than all of last season.

Tripp has nearly doubled her rebounds per game (7.4 compared to 3.8 last year), while nearly equaling her assist total.

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.

WARRIOR ALL-ACCESS
Every regular season home game will be streamed via Warrior All-Access at WSUAthletics.com.

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Players Mentioned

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

#13 Hillary Griffin: F; 5' 11"; Freshman

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

#30 Kate McArthur: G; 5' 8"; Senior

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

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

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

Players Mentioned

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

#13 Hillary Griffin
: 5' 11"; Freshman
: F

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

#30 Kate McArthur
: 5' 8"; Senior
: G

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

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

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