Women's Basketball 3/13/2025 10:00:00 AM Henry Coyle, Sports Information Graduate Assistant

Women's Hoops Ready for NCAA Tournament Contest with Lewis

GAME STORYLINES
The Wayne State University women's basketball program earned its sixth bid in school history to the NCAA Tournament on Sunday evening, and fifth in the last 13 years. WSU is the No. 4 seed in this week's NCAA Midwest Regional being played at top-seeded Grand Valley State University (32-2 overall). The Warriors are 19-11 overall and will face the No. 5 seed Lewis University (26-3 overall) on Friday at 7:30 p.m. with the winner advancing to Saturday's 7:30 p.m. semifinal contest against the winner of GVSU and No. 8-seed Quincy University (25-7 overall). That contest is at 5 p.m. on Friday.

The other half of the bracket in Allendale has second-seeded Ashland University (30-3 overall), No. 3 seed Northern Michigan University (22-8 overall), sixth-seeded Hillsdale College (21-9 overall), and the No. 7 seed Ferris State University (21-11 overall). Ashland won both the Great Midwest Athletic Conference regular-season and tournament titles, defeating the Chargers 69-57 to claim its fourth straight G-MAC tournament championship this past Saturday.

The NMU vs. Hillsdale match-up starts at noon on Friday, to be followed by the FSU against Ashland game at 2:30 p.m. The winners of those two contests will play at 5 p.m. on Saturday. The semifinal winners will play in the Sweet Sixteen game at 7 p.m. on Monday (3/17) for the right to advance to the Elite Eight in Pittsburgh.

WAYNE STATE IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT
WSU fell 91-83 at Indianapolis in 2003. In 2013, the Warriors advanced to the Regional Championship game (Sweet Sixteen) following victories over #18-Findlay (63-58) and RV-Parkside (70-60). The host AU Eagles, who were ranked No. 2 nationally, won the Midwest Regional Championship game 72-63 despite a double-double by Juanita Cochran (15 points, 17 rebounds) and a near double-double by Talisha Bridges (18 points, 9 rebounds).
The next season WSU advanced to the Regional Championship again after triumphs over RV-Indianapolis (63-58) and No. 11-Lewis (87-80). Wayne State dropped a 99-63 decision at sixth-ranked Drury.

The Warriors won their opening round game in 2015 in Houghton, Mich., claiming a 75-61 victory over No. 7-Drury. Wayne State suffered a 71-63 setback to fourth-ranked Lewis the next day.

Wayne State's last NCAA tournament game came in 2022 with the Warriors falling 72-46 to sixth-ranked Grand Valley at Ashland.

SERIES HISTORY
WSU is 2-9 all-time versus Lewis, with one of the wins coming in the NCAA Tournament - 2014 Second Round at Drury (87-80). The squads also met the following year in the Second Round in Houghton with the Flyers prevailing 71-63.

GVSU has a 65-26 lead in the all-time series and has won the last 23 match-ups. GVSU has a 26-17 mark on its home court vs. the Warriors.

Wayne State has never played Quincy in women's basketball.

SCOUTING THE FLYERS
Lewis had won 13 straight games prior to Saturday's 73-59 setback to Maryville in the GLVC Tournament Semifinals. Taylor Gugliuzza is averaging a team-best 16.4 points, and is tied for the team lead in triples (41) with Jenna Badali, who is second in scoring at 10.8 PPG. Ally Cesarini grabs a squad-best 6.0 rebounds per contest. Team leaders include Badali in assists (115), Cesarini in steals (48) and Gabi Hoover in blocked shots (35). LU is ranked No. 17 nationally this week by the WBCA.

SCOUTING THE LAKERS
Grand Valley State is 32-1 against Division 2 schools (lost 82-57 at Ohio State in mid-December). GVSU is probably the deepest team in the country with 11 players averaging over 14 minutes a game, and no player averaging 20 minutes or more per contest. GLIAC Player of the Year Rylie Bisballe is averaging a team-best 13.5 points per game and is shooting 51 percent from the floor (193-381). Her younger sister MacKenzie is shooting 55 percent (144-263) and is scoring 10.0 PPG. MacKenzie has a team-high 48 blocked shots, while Nicole Kamin leads GVSU with 83 steals. Abrie Cabana has made a squad-best 65 triples, and is tied with Kamin for the team lead in assists with 74.

SCOUTING THE HAWKS
Quincy enters the NCAA Tournament on a four-game winning streak after claiming the GLVC Tournament title on Sunday to earn the automatic bid. Nicole McDermott leads QU in scoring (15.8 PPG) and free throws made (153), while ranking second in assists (95) and steals (44). Mariann Blass is averaging 11.3 PPG and has made a team-high 48 triples. Cymirah Williams has a squad-best 45 steals and is scoring 10.5 points per outing to go with her team-leading 9.2 rebounds per game. Karsyn Stratton leads QU with 97 assists and is averaging 9.9 PPG.

TOUGHEST SCHEDULE
According to stats.ncaa.org, WSU played the 13th toughest schedule in D2 through the end of the conference tournaments with opposing teams compiling a 484-355 record for a .577 winning percentage. The only team in the Midwest Region with a tougher schedule was GVSU (548-396 / .581). Meanwhile, Lewis's strength of schedule was listed at 250 (out of 301 schools) at 376-402 (.483). Quincy played the No. 78-ranked schedule (447-385 / .537). Five of WSU's 11 losses came against the top-three ranked teams in the Midwest Region, plus the Warriors boasted a win over Edinboro, the top seed in the Atlantic Region.

NCAA RANKINGS
Wayne State is 24th nationally in assists per game (16.1), 31st in three-point field goal percentage (.339) and 49th in field goal percentage (.428).

Individually, Shea Tripp is 56th in field goal percentage (.491), 57th in assists (118), 65th in steals (65) and 81st in rebounds (236), while Taylor Thompson is 57th in offensive rebounds per game (3.1) and 64th in rebounds (246).

SHEA TRIPP ON-AND-OFF THE COURT
Wayne State senior forward Shea Tripp, who earlier was named one of the national female finalists (from all sports and all divisions) for the John Wooden Citizenship Cup was also selected to the 2025 Allstate NACDA Good Works Team for winter sports. On the court, Tripp was voted to the All-GLIAC First Team and earned a spot on the GLIAC All-Tournament team after scoring 22 points in each game, while contributing 17 rebounds, seven assists and three steals in the win over Parkside and the loss at No. 2-GVSU in the GLIAC Semifinal this past Saturday.

LAST GAME RECAP
The Warriors fell in their most recent contest as No. 2-ranked Grand Valley State prevailed 78-54 in the GLIAC Tournament Semifinal Round.

The Green and Gold started hot, tallying the game's first seven points. After scoring spurts from both squads, WSU held another seven-point advantage by a score of 13-6. A 9-2 surge for the Lakers knotted the contest at 15 points apiece after 10 minutes of action.

GVSU owned the second quarter, out-pacing Wayne State 23-7, to lead 38-22 at intermission.

The Warriors were unable to match the high-octane offense of Grand Valley State, as the Lakers out-scored WSU 40-32 over the final two periods.

WSU was unable to win the rebounding battle as GVSU hauled in 36 boards to 31 for the Green and Gold. Wayne State made 48 percent of its attempts from the field (21-of-44), to Grand Valley State's 42 percent (30-of-72).

Shea Tripp (22) and Taylor Thompson (12) were the lone pair of Warriors to notch double-digit scoring for WSU.

FOLLOW THE WARRIORS
All Wayne State NCAA Tournament games can be heard for free on Warrior All-Access (wsuathletics.com) with veteran Warrior broadcaster Kevin Brechmacher calling the action.

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Players Mentioned

#30 Taylor Thompson: F; 5' 11"; Junior

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

Players Mentioned

#30 Taylor Thompson
: 5' 11"; Junior
: F

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

Players Mentioned

#30 Taylor Thompson

#23 Shea Tripp

Players Mentioned

#30 Taylor Thompson

#23 Shea Tripp