March 1, 2014

Box Score

DAYTON, Ohio - Wright State University started the second half on a big scoring run to take control and hand the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee women's basketball team a 94-70 defeat Saturday afternoon at the Nutter Center.

The Raiders (21-8, 10-4 Horizon League), who came in with the 13th-highest scoring average in the NCAA at 82.8 points a game, used an impressive second-half performance against the Panthers (8-19, 4-10 Horizon League) to cruise to the victory.

Senior Angela Rodriguez led the way with 19 points. She also put her name in the UWM record book, breaking the season assists record when she handed out her third of the day and No. 154 on the season near the end of the first half. That eclipsed the former mark of 153, set by Pam Bartnik in the 1993-94 campaign.

"Wright State is a very good team, but I felt like we did not execute to the best of our ability," UWM head coach Kyle Rechlicz said. "As a coaching staff, we probably should have made even more adjustments throughout the game. We just seemed a little sluggish. We also turned the ball over way too many times. But, if we get the opportunity to play them again, that is something that we have to improve upon because we can't give up 23 points off of 25 turnovers."

Sophomore Avyanna Young added her 12th double-double of the season, finishing with 12 points and 13 boards, marking her third in a row and fifth in her last six games.

Freshman Bre'Zall Warren netted 17 points, tying her career-high for the second time in the past six days.

Four of the five WSU starters were in double-figures, led by Ivory James with 22 points on 8-of-11 shooting from the floor. The team was over 50 percent from the floor for most of the day, finishing at 47.1 percent (33-of-70).

Wright State came storming out of the second-half gates, using a 17-2 scoring run to start the period and take complete control at 60-33.

Milwaukee trailed 6-2 early, but fought back quickly to forge ahead. An 8-2 spurt gave UWM its first lead at 10-8 on a Rodriguez three at the 14:46 mark. A layup by Young extended the run to 10-2 and the Panthers still led, 16-14, on a Rodriguez jumper with 11:53 to play.

"The beginning of the game, we were matching them point for point," Rechlicz said. "They were still getting good looks at the basket and we had some costly turnovers. That put us in a position where they were able to go on a run. All credit to them, they are playing with a high level of energy and that is something that we need to match if we do get the chance to play them again in the conference tournament. This is a game that we can learn from, for sure."

From there, the Wright State offense found its groove. The Raiders went on a 25-8 run, building the lead to its largest of the first half at 15 points at 39-24 on a pair of free throws with just over three minutes to play before the half. It was a frustrating first 20 minutes for the Panthers, who out-rebounded their opponent by a substantial margin at 24-14. Hot shooting by WSU - which ended the half at 52.9 percent - gave the home team the 12-point lead at intermission.

Up next, the Panthers play their final road game of the regular season, taking on Valparaiso Wednesday in a 7 p.m. tip-off.