Third-seeded Detroit (18-13) advances to play top seed Green Bay in Tuesday’s championship game, while No. 2 WSU (24-8) will wait for what it hopes will be a call from the WNIT.
“Sometimes you can’t quite overcome the shooting battle that we have been fighting all year,” said Raiders coach Katrina Merriweather. “We usually find a way, but tonight it just didn’t happen.”
WSU shot 16 percent (5 of 31) in the first half but still took a one-point lead into the break thanks to a 32-20 edge in rebounds and a 19-1 advantage in free throw attempts.
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The Raiders finished the game with eight more rebounds and 26 more free throw attempts than the Detroit, but shot less than 19 percent in three of the four quarters, including the fourth when Detroit outscored them 24-10.
“The team defense we played, we made it really tough for Wright State to get good, in-rhythm shots,” Titans coach Bernard Scott. “And then we started to box out, and that really helped. Early on Lexi Smith kind of got going on us, but the (Chelsea) Welch kid, who can go off for 20 or 30 points, we were able to hold in check.”
Smith led the Raiders with 18 points and 14 rebounds.
“After we were constantly getting fouled and making our free throws, that was our momentum building up,” Smith said. “But we stopped going to the line, and that slowed us down a little bit.”
Welch added 15 points, but they came on 5 of 19 shooting, including 0 of 4 from 3-point range. WSU missed its first 10 shots from beyond the arc and finished 1 of 12.
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Detroit wasn’t much better hitting just 3 of 14 treys in the first half. But the Titans knocked down six of the first eight and 8 of 11 overall in the second half to seize control of what was still a four-point game with under a minute to go in the third quarter.
“We were making shots in the second half that gave us the lead, and we just took it from there,” Scott said.
Senior guard Rosanna Reynolds led Detroit with 19 points, while junior guard Nicole Urbanick (11) and freshman guard Anja Marinkovic (11) were a combined 5 of 6 from 3-point range in the second half.
“We took some gambles trying to get the ball out of the post, then they just wheeled the ball around and got open shots, and they made them,” Merriweather said.
Junior forward Brianne Cohen added 11 points for Detroit before fouling out, while senior forward Hayleigh added a team-high 14 rebounds.
WSU sophomore guard Emily Vogelpohl notched her fourth double-double of the year with 11 rebounds and 10 points, which came on 3 of 13 shooting.
Despite the disappointing ending in Detroit, Merriweather said her first year at the helm of the program was a rewarding one.
“I’m very, very proud of what this team has been able to accomplish this year,” she said. “It’s been above and beyond what my expectations, and what everybody around’s expectations, were. Unfortunately we came up short today, but one thing I never have to question is how hard they’re going to play and how bad they want to win.”
And she’s hoping there are chances for more wins soon.
“I’m excited for what next week holds, because I image we’ll be in the postseason,” Merriweather said. “That is what we’re hoping to hear, that we’re playing in the WNIT. So we’re going to get back to work. We’re going to need some days off and we’re going to continue work to get better. Hopefully this season is not over yet.”
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