The Raiders dropped a 75-63 decision Sunday to defending champion and preseason favorite Green Bay, the only team in the league without a conference loss.
Frigid first-half shooting was crippling. But after falling behind by as many as 23, they cut the deficit to 59-52 on Makiya Miller’s 3 with 6:15 to left and were competitive the rest of the way.
“We knew we had to shoot well to beat these guys. That was the story of our preparation. We got great shots early on. We just didn’t knock them down,” coach Kari Hoffman said.
“We shot awesome on Friday night (in a 77-70 win over Milwaukee), and you have that same confidence. They just didn’t fall, and there were a couple that even went halfway down and popped back out. That’s really frustrating against a team that you’ve got to be literally perfect to beat them.”
Kacee Baumhower had 19 points and Rachel Loobie 15 for the Raiders, who are 10-7 overall and 4-2 in the HL.
They shot 21 of 62 (33.9%) overall after starting 4 of 21. They went only 9 of 32 on 3′s after missing their first eight.
Usual stalwarts Alexis Hutchison (11 points) and Layne Ferrell (five) were a combined 7 of 23 from the field.
“We know once we hit shots, we’re really scary. They were definitely scared of us. You could tell by the way they were guarding us early,” Baumhower said.
“We’re a big momentum team. Every game, we’ve had a big run. We know once we hit shots, we can compete with anyone.”
The Phoenix (12-3, 5-0), who won or shared 20 straight regular-season titles from 1998-2018, put four players in double figures and were led by Maddie Schreiber’s 20.
The Raiders were 8-24 overall and 6-14 in the league last year and had won just 12 games in Hoffman’s first two years.
In three meetings with Green Bay last season, they lost by an average of 23 points. That’s what made the second-half surge so satisfying.
“I definitely let our players hear it at halftime: ‘We’ve got to be ourselves and execute the game plan.’ And they did that from that point on,” Hoffman said.
“That’s the fight in these guys. They’re competitors. I can live with that result because of the way we finished. But it’s just frustrating we didn’t show up the entire game that way.”
THURSDAY’S GAME
Wright State at IUPUI, 7 p.m., ESPN+
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