Women's Basketball: Wayne State upsets Hillsdale at home

Warriors improve to 2-1 in conference play

Jeff Buck
Staff Writer

Last year, home court advantage proved to be key against Hillsdale, and it seems nothing has changed. The Wayne State woman’s basketball team handed Hillsdale (5-2, 1-2 GLIAC) its second loss this past Saturday, defeating the Chargers 85-67 at the Matthaei Center.

After six minutes of play, it looked as though the whistles were not going to be in WSU’s favor. The Warriors (3-4, 2-1 GLIAC) committed their eighth foul against Hillsdale with 14:46 left in the first half.

“Well, you know it wasn’t as though we were not fouling,” said WSU head coach Gloria Bradley. “We were fouling. They just came out a little anxious. This is a game they get up for, as they should get up for all of them, but you know as teams are, there are certain teams they get up for more than others.”

In the game of basketball, things can change quickly, and that’s exactly what happened as WSU regrouped and tallied only two more fouls for the rest of the half.

The first half belonged to the Warriors, who took control of the game after their early foul trouble, going on a 6-0 run, extending their lead to eight over Hillsdale, 19-11, with 10:36 left in the half.

With Hillsdale trying to build momentum for a comeback before the end of the half, it was guard Brittany White who sank a three- pointer to silence the Hillsdale fans. Leading 35-29, the Warriors would take a six-point advantage into the locker room at halftime.

Guard Joy Nash led WSU at the half with nine points, shooting 4-of-5 from the field. She also had two assists and one steal in her 15 minutes of play. She ended the night with 13 points on 5-of-10 shooting from the field.

“One of our objectives was to keep them below 30 for the first half, so we knew we have to come out aggressive on the defensive end, keep our person in front of us and have the post working, and play solid defensively,” Nash said.

Hillsdale forward Nikki Wustman shot 4-of-8 with 10 points and seven rebounds during her 19 minutes of play in the first half. She would lead the Chargers as the leading scorer with 16 points, as well as grabbing down eight rebounds.

As the second half got underway, it was WSU that continued to build its lead, going by as many as 11 before Hillsdale began to mount a comeback with some bench contributions from Katie Cezat and Jodie Haines. The Chargers tied the game with 13:04 left in the half by a Haines three-pointer from beyond the arc.

That’s as close as they would come, unable to take the lead from WSU. With both teams in the bonus with 12 minutes still to play, the outcome of the game depended on good free throw shooting, and that is exactly what WSU did.

Down the stretch, both Bethany Mesko and Brittany White sank their free throws, helping the Warriors build an 18-point lead and seal the victory.

Mesko scored 17 points on 5-of-7 shooting and was 7-for-10 at the charity stripe during her 38 minutes of play. White was 5-for-7 from the free-throw line, giving her 10 points to go along with six assists.

Mesko emphasized confidence as a key to their victory.

“We were just confident,” Mesko said. “We know they’re a good team. They’re one of the top teams in the conference, but we knew we could play with them. We beat them last year, so we had that confidence coming in and knowing that if we just stepped up playing our game, we wouldn’t have to worry as much about theirs.”

Nicole Rogers was also brilliant with her free-throw stroke, scoring 15 points while shooting 9-for-10 from the line.

The Warriors, now second in the GLIAC South, travel to Owensboro, Ky., on Dec. 16 to take on Kentucky Wesleyan at 2:00 p.m.

The South End, December 11, 2006