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Women Can't Hold On and Lose in OT

By Kevin C. Smith
The Lady Raiders (9-16/5-10 HL) hosted Butler (18-7/11-3 HL) Saturday afternoon. It was a rough afternoon for both teams. For the second game in a row the Lady Raiders watched a lead slip away. This time however, Butler took the advantage and grabbed the win, 51-48.

February 24, 2010
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Photos � and Courtesy of
Tim G. Zechar

This game started out very slowly. In fact, at the 16:28 mark the score was 0-3 in Butler's favor. Two free throws by Junior LaShawna Thomas followed by a layup from Senior Erica Richardson gave the Raiders the lead. Wright State was able to open up a seven point lead with 9:45 left in the first half, before Butler, wearing pink uniforms to support Breast Cancer awareness, fought back. Butler would tie the score at 15 with just 2:51 left til the buzzer. A "B3" (Bennett 3) and layups by Sophomore Molly Fox and Junior Tanni Scott gave WSU another seven point lead, 22-15, going into the locker room.

Butler's play in the first half made this reporter ask "who are you and what did you do with the Butler team"? Being third in the Horizon League, a Sagarin rating in double digits and averaging 69.7ppg on 44.4% shooting, this was not what was expected. Instead, Butler was only hitting 20% (3-15) from the field and narrowly controlled the boards with a 15-13 advantage. WSU grabbed ten points off of 18 first half Butler turnovers, while Butler could only take a four point advantage from 16 WSU turnovers. They were staying in the game with 69.2% shooting from the line - 9 for 13, from the ten WSU fouls.

Wright State was being lead by Richardson with five points, four rebounds and a steal. Bennett had five points also and an assist. The team shot 42.9% (9-21) in the half. Could they hold off this Butler team in the second half? Their tough defensive play was impressing some women's team alumni who were present and was having an impact on Butler.

Wright State started the second half by opening the lead up to a ten point advantage, 26-16 with a little over 17 minutes to play. They would continue on a 10-4 run to open a 13 point lead with 12:32 left in the game, 32-19. However from that point we saw Butler do their own 18-5 run to tie the score at 37 as time was running out with just 1:41 left in regulation play. The last minute saw a battle between the teams to take and hold the lead, but at the end of regulation, the teams were tied at 40 apiece.

Butler was able to stay in the game due to free throws. They hit 20 out of 35 charity shots during regulation. This would be the second game of lopsided foul calls and WSU had to control their fouls if they were to win.

The Lady Raiders going into this overtime were 0-2 this season; both of those were to Loyola. This overtime saw Butler on the line. The Lady Bulldogs hit seven free throws and two layups to finish off the Lady Raiders who managed two field goals and one free throw in the five minute OT. This was Butler's lowest score in a game since November. For the Raiders, it was the second consecutive 25 plus foul game.

Wright State shot 35.3% (18-51), while Butler shot just 26.8% (11-41) from the field. Although the Raiders hit 80% from the line it accounted for only 8 points. Butler took advantage of their 43 free throws hitting 27 of them. The Lady Raiders were called for 26 fouls to just 12 for Butler. Butler also picked up 20 of their points from the 32 Wright State turnovers, while WSU got 14 points from 27 Butler give-ups.

Senior Kanisha Ward led the Raiders, missing a double-double by one rebound. She finished with 13 points and nine points, while giving 4 assists and grabbing one steal. Sophomore Molly Fox followed her with nine points, eight boards, one each in assists, blocked shots and steals. The game was much closer than expected, but Butler did get their win today, 51-48.

The Lady Raiders now have two games on the road. They return to the Nutter center for the last game of the regular season on Saturday, March 6th. They will host the current HL Leader, Detroit (14-12/12-3 HL) at 1pm. The seniors on the team will be recognized at that game.