Women Play in the Semi-Finals of Tournament

March 13, 2008
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Photos © and Courtesy of Tim G. Zechar

Youngstown State beat WSU in both games during the regular season. After tonight's game, Senior Whitney Lewis summed the Lady Raiders attitude about playing YSU again saying, yes they had a bit of a chip on their shoulder and wanted this win. That attitude showed throughout tonight's game.

The scoring tonight started off slow with a free throw by Sophomore Charne Dixon giving WSU its first lead, 1-0 at the 19:23 mark. Early in the game the lead would change hands four times.

When Freshman Shey Peddy hit a jumper for the lead with 14:19, followed by a three pointer at 12:52 they had the lead and never gave it up. Youngstown was put back on defense when Senior Whitney Lewis stepped up and hit two three point shots back to back to give the Lady Raiders an 18-11 advantage with 10:28 in the half.

YSU tried to stay with the Raiders, but could never get a big enough run to take the lead. The Lady Raiders were shooting 57.7% (15-26) in the first half, including 4-7 from beyond the arc. At the end of the half, Peddy had hit 14 points and Lewis had grabbed 10. Although they were being out rebounded 18-13, Wright State had grabbed 6 steals and one blocked shot. They picked up 15 points off of turnovers, while only giving up two points to YSU on 8 turnovers.

Due to a mistake on the roster, Peddy did not start the game. This mistake allowed the Raiders to have 18 points off the bench in the first half. This stat was a surprise to Coach Williams until she remembered Peddy was being counted as part of the bench! At the buzzer the Lady Raiders had a 37-29 lead as they went to the locker room.

The second half saw the Lady Raiders control the game. Youngstown would manage to cut the lead to just eight points with 8:56 left in the game, but that would be it. The Lady Raiders would open up a 16 point lead with 1:38 left. A last effort by Youngstown would cut the lead again but in the end the Lady Raiders got the win.

Horizon League Newcomer of the Year Shey Peddy finished the night with 26 points, one steal and one assist. Senior Whitney Lewis, who told us she is always aware that these will be her last games for Wright State, finished the night with 10 points, seven rebounds, two steals, three blocked shots and two assists.

As her High School Coach watched from the stands, Horizon League All-Newcomer Team member, Freshman LaShawna Thomas also finished the night with ten points. She also helped out with the win by grabbing seven rebounds, getting two steals and providing five assists in the game.

Senior Sierra Crayton, Horizon League's "Sixth Player of the Year," also helped give the fans an exciting game by sinking 10 points. Crayton also grabbed four rebounds and had one assist in her 17 minutes of play.

This was an exciting game to watch. It was also good to see a small but vocal student section, "lead by our own Chris Collins" actually cheer and appear to have a great time! The Lady Raiders did not disappoint them as they defeated Youngstown 69-60.

The Lady Raiders will now depart from Dayton early tomorrow to travel to UW-Green Bay. There on Friday they will play UW-Milwaukee in the semi-finals of the tournament. That game is scheduled to start at 8pm and will be on HLN network. The Championship Game will be on Sunday March 16th at 1pm. The Championship will be on ESPNU.