The Wright State women’s basketball team (6-4) won their second straight game, 85-73, against the Eastern Kentucky Colonels (3-7) in the first game of the Wright State Invitational on Monday, Dec. 19, at the Nutter Center.
The two wins come after a stretch of four straight losses against Georgetown, Clemson, Kent State and Illinois. Wright State opened the game fast with a 9-0 run and never looked back. At the end of the first half, the Raiders found themselves up by 5. In the third period the Raiders, found their shooting stroke and caught fire from the three point line. Wright State opened up the third quarter on a 9-2 run with three straight threes from sophomore Mackenzie Taylor and junior Chelsea Welch. The Lady Raiders made five three's in the period and grew their lead to 22, the largest of the game. Eastern Kentucky valiantly fought back into the game, with senior Alexus Cooper leading all scorers with 26 points, but in the end Wright State held out for the win. Wright State showed balanced scoring throughout the game with Welch scoring 17 and junior Lexi Smith scoring 21. The Raiders are shooting 45% in the last two games after shooting under 40% during their four game losing streak. Head coach Katrina Merriweather believed it was only a matter of time until the team broke out of their shooting slump while also keeping the team focused on other aspects of the game.“It’s all about attention to detail and focus,” said Merriweather. “We have really good players, so it’s not a matter of talent, it’s just a matter of if the shots are going in and sometimes you have bad shooting days and we’re suppose to turn it around defensively and get more shots so there’s always a plan for when you don’t make shots."
The Raiders will play Fort Wayne and Miami (OH) in the next two days to finish out the invitational.
