ROCHESTER, Mich. – Their second victory in the three meetings between the two programs this season, the 9-seed Wright State Raiders defeated the 8-seed Oakland Golden Grizzlies, 79-69, in a 2023 Barbasol Shave #HLWBB Tournament first-round game at the O'rena on Tuesday, February 28.
Oakland concludes their 2022-23 campaign at 13-17, while the Raiders move to 8-23 and will face the 1-seed Green Bay Phoenix in a Barbasol Shave #HLWBB Quarterfinal on Thursday, March 2 at the Kress Events Center at 8 p.m. (7 p.m. CT).
In her highest-scoring game since January 18, senior
Breanne Beatty led the Golden Grizzlies with 17 points, while #HLWBB Freshman of the Year
Brooke Quarles-Daniels had 14 and junior
Alexis Johnson finished with 11.
Sophomore center
Miriam Ibezim added eight points and junior
Linda van Schaik pitched in seven off the bench.
Left-handed senior Cara VanKempen, a Coopersville, Michigan native and former Valparaiso Crusader, led all scorers with a career-high 24 points for Wright State. Graduate student Izzy Bolender, sophomore Kacee Baumhower and senior Emily Chapman joined her in double figures, recording 10, 11 and 12, respectively.
Paced by nine rebounds apiece from Beatty, Quarles-Daniels and van Schaik, plus seven from Johnson, Oakland handily won the battle on the glass, 50-29, but the Raiders did dish out 16 assists to the Golden Grizzlies' 11.
Wright State held an 18-12 lead after one quarter of play, but Oakland used a 29-point second quarter to take a 41-37 lead into the halftime break.
Knocking down six 3-pointers with 54.5 percent efficiency in the second half, the Raiders outscored the Golden Grizzlies, 42-28, in the final 20 minutes, including 22-16 in the fourth quarter.
Oakland did a good job of drawing fouls and reaching the free throw line, evidenced by their 16 attempts, but the Golden Grizzlies left some points at the stripe by hitting just six of them.
Following Ibezim splitting a pair of foul shots with 3:42 to play, Oakland cut the Wright State lead to four, 71-67, but the Raiders responded by scoring eight of the game's final 10 points.
GRIZZVISION WITH SYDNEY CARIEL AND HEAD COACH JEFF TUNGATE
Tuesday's ESPN+ sideline reporter Sydney Cariel spoke with head coach
Jeff Tungate postgame.
FINAL 2022-23 GOLDEN GRIZZLY STATISTICS
A link to the interactive 2022-23 Oakland women's basketball statistics can be found
here.
Some interesting nuggets:
- Quarles-Daniels was the Golden Grizzlies' leading scorer at 12.1 points-per-game
- Beatty and Johnson also averaged double-digit points, finishing at 10.7 and 11, respectively
- van Schaik hit a team-best 42 3-pointers, followed by Beatty and sophomore Kennedie Montue at 33 each
- Johnson and Quarles-Daniels tied for the team lead in rebounding, both appearing in all 30 contests and pulling down 164 rebounds, good for 5.5 per game
- Beatty was Oakland's best free throw shooter at 81.2 percent (69-85)
2023 BARBASOL SHAVE #HLWBB TOURNAMENT ROUNDUP
In other Tuesday first-round action, the 6-seed Purdue Fort Wayne Mastodons held off the 11-seed Detroit Mercy Titans, 65-61, and the 7-seed Milwaukee Panthers had a slightly more spacious 64-58 victory over the 10-seed Robert Morris Colonials.
The Barbasol Shave #HLWBB Quarterfinals will take place on Thursday at campus sites beginning at 5:30 p.m. with Milwaukee heading to the Buckeye State to battle the 2-seed Cleveland State Vikings and the 4-seed Youngstown State Penguins welcoming in the 5-seed Northern Kentucky Norse.
A link to a tournament bracket is available
here.
