“We’re just now understanding that, No. 1, were good enough to win these games. Belief and confidence are huge. And the players understand we can play with almost every team in our league,” Hoffman said.
“We’re doing what we need to do right now: taking those steps forward. I wouldn’t say we’re at our peak yet, but we’ve definitely seen way more consistency this last month, and we’re playing like one of the top four or five teams in our conference.”
A 10-game losing streak dropped the Raiders to 2-14, but they’ve found their mojo since then. They’ve gone 5-5 in their last 10 games and are ninth in the Horizon League at 5-11.
They have four games left, all against the top two-thirds of the league. The teams that finish sixth through eighth get a first-round home game in the HL tourney.
Hoffman, though, is thinking bigger than that.
“If you look at the logjam of all the teams under the top three, we’re two games out of fourth place. That is crazy. It’s important that the players understand (a top-four finish) is an attainable goal, and that’s, hopefully, something we can achieve,” she said.
“These last several games just mean a whole lot for putting ourselves in position to finish the year as best we can. I think our players are poised to do that.”
The Raiders (7-19 overall) host Oakland (8-17, 6-10) at 7 p.m. Wednesday.
After that, WSU plays at Northern Kentucky (10-16, 7-9) and Cleveland State (21-6, 12-4) and finish with a home game against Robert Morris (12-14, 8-9) on March 1.
“I think there’s a lot of teams that are just kind of looking to the done, and I don’t think our crew is. They’re ready to finish strong,” Hoffman said.
Fifth-year player Amaya Staton leads the league in rebounding with an 8.3 average while scoring 11.2 points per game (15th in the HL).
She scored a season-high 23 points and yanked down a career-best 16 rebounds at YSU on Thursday and has 10 double-doubles this season, building a case for some postseason league honors.
“Amaya is definitely leading that charge because she’s at the end of her career, whereas everybody else has more ahead of them,” Hoffman said.
“She’s absolutely finishing strong. And I think the players are seeing her do that, and it’s firing them up, too.”
Though it’s easy to focus on just what happens on the court, the Raiders are taking their roles as student-athletes seriously.
They had 13 players (almost the entire roster) earn academic recognition for having at least a 3.0 GPA in the first semester.
The honorees were Staton, Claire Henson, Makiya Miller, Lauren Scott, Rylee Sagester, Olivia Brown, Elle Bruschuk, Chloe Chard Peloquin, Florrie Cotterill, MaKenzie Drout, Ellie Magestro Kennedy, Abbie Riddle and Macie Taylor.
“I’m super proud of their efforts in the classroom. They spend a lot of time on their academics, and we forget that. But to see them excelling in that area and having such a great semester — even during a rough stretch of our season — that’s very encouraging,” Hoffman said.
WEDNESDAY’S GAME
Oakland at Wright State, 7 p.m.
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