GAME STORYLINES
Wayne State will look to bounce back after an 0-2 opening weekend to claim its first win of the season when the Warriors host Northwood on Thursday, November 14th at 7:00 PM at the WSU Fieldhouse.

SERIES HISTORY
Dating back to the first meeting in 1980, the Warriors (then Tartars) and Timberwolves have faced each other 66 times, with WSU holding a 35-31 series advantage.  In the most recent meeting (12/30/23), Northwood prevailed 84-67 at home against Wayne State.  WSU has a 23-11 home record in the series, including a 62-59 triumph at the Fieldhouse on Dec. 11, 2021, the last meeting in Detroit.

SCOUTING THE OPPONENT
Northwood enters Thursday's tilt at 1-1 overall after splitting its opening weekend against Saginaw Valley State and Lake Superior State.  The Timberwolves opened the 2024-25 campaign with a 70-49 home loss to the Cardinals, but responded with a 72-55 victory against the Lakers.  The Northwood women's basketball team will take its first road trip of the season to face the Warriors.

Maeve St. John has been the leading scorer for the Timberwolves through two games.  The guard is averaging 13.0 points, 5.0 assists and 4.5 rebounds per contest.  In her last outing, she tallied 15 points, five assists and five rebounds, while adding three steals.   Northwood has two more players averaging double digits as Lea Holmes and Alexa Kolnitys are both scoring 11.0 points per match.

Autumn Haggadone is in her fourth year as head coach of the Timberwolves. As head coach, Haggadone has a 53-33 overall record.  Prior to being named head coach,  she served as an assistant at both Albion College, her alma mater (2015-17), and Northwood (2017-21).

RETURNING ALL-LEAGUE PLAYERS
Shea Tripp and Gabi Lutchka both earned All-GLIAC honors for their efforts during the 2023-24 season.  Tripp garnered first team honors after averaging 13.4 points per game and leading the conference in steals with 41.  Lutchka's 12.1 points and 4.7 rebounds per game earned her second team laurels.

Tripp was named to the 2024-25 GLIAC Women's Basketball Preseason First Team as announced by the conference on October 30.

LAST WEEKEND RECAP
Wayne State opened the regular season with back-to-back home losses to Malone and #5-Ashland.

The Warriors scored seven of the first nine points on buckets by Taylor Thompson and Shea Tripp sandwiched around a triple by Alyssa Leister after the visiting Pioneers had knotted the score at 2-2.  Five consecutive points by Gabi Lutchka extended the hosts advantage to 12-4.

Less than 90 seconds later Lutchka drained another triple pushing the margin to nine (15-6).  

A lay-up by Ally Shagena 50 seconds into the second stanza pushed the lead to 10 (21-11).  A Shagena basket off a feed from Tripp regained the 10-point advantage (23-13).  The Pioneers went on an 8-0 run to pull within one at 30-29 with 94 seconds left before halftime.  

A shot from beyond the arc by Lutchka stopped the run by Malone, but MU's Kyli Horn connected from long range in the final seconds prior to intermission.

After holding Malone to 28 percent from the floor (5-of-18) in the first quarter, the Warrior defense allowed 21 points in the second quarter as the Pioneers shot 62 percent (8-of-13) from the field, including 5-of-9 from three-point range. 

Malone out-scored WSU 35-27 in the second half, including an 18-11 margin in the third quarter.

After a Malone foul shot, Tripp made two free throws to trim the deficit to two (53-51) with 4:36 left, however the Pioneers tallied nine of the next 10 points to push their advantage to 10 (62-52) with 1:40 remaining.

Lutchka led three WSU players in double figures with 17 points, while Shagena scored a career-high 12 points.  Tripp notched her 10th career double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds, while also chipping in a team-best five assists and a game-high four steals.

After one day of rest, Wayne State returned to action to face the aforementioned #5-Ashland.  The Warriors led by as many as seven points in the opening stanza, but the visiting Eagles scored 46 points in the two middle quarters and out-scored WSU 73-53 in the contest.

A lay-up by Mackenzie Miller ignited an 8-0 Warrior run giving the hosts a 13-6 lead with just under two minutes remaining in the first period.

AU's Hayley Smith started a 17-0 run by the guests with a lay-up early in the second period.  The Warriors trailed 31-26 at intermission despite shooting 53 percent (10-of-19) from the floor, including 3-of-3 from beyond the arc.  Fourteen WSU turnovers led to a 10-2 Ashland edge in points off turnovers.

Thompson led WSU with 14 points and tied with Shea Tripp for team-high rebounding honors with six boards apiece.  Miller matched her WSU high with 11 points.  Tripp dished out a game-best six assists.

LETTERWINNERS RETURNING
Wayne State has 12 players that have earned a letter with the Warriors.  Alyssa Leister, Ally Shagena, and Shea Tripp have all collected three letters ahead of the 2024-25 season, with Taylor Thompson earning two.  The Green and Gold have eight more players that have received a letter.  Included in those eight are players that saw time during the 2022-23 season, or the 2023-24 season.

KEEP UP WITH THE ACTION
Every women's basketball home and GLIAC contest will be televised on FloSports (flohoops.com) per the conference's agreement with the streaming service.  Brady Beedon and Joe Abramson will handle play-by-play duties for the home broadcasts during the 2024-25 campaign. 

In addition, the WSU Department of Athletics has partnered with The PreP for streaming home athletic events for the 2024-25 season.  For road GLIAC contests, Wayne State men's basketball play-by-play voice Kevin Brechmacher will provide audio for free through WSUAthletics.com (Warrior All-Access).