Greene County News Report

FAIRBORN —The Wright State women’s basketball team opened Horizon League play with an easy 69-51 road win over Milwaukee.

Lexi Smith scored 22 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, both game-highs, to lead the Raiders, who improved to 9-4 overall. Symone Simmons nearly had a double-double with 15 points and nine rebounds while Mackenzie Taylor had 11 points and Emily Vogelpohl nine.

UWM went up 11-10 on two Steph Kostowicz free throws at the 2:26 mark of the first half, but that turned out to be the final lead of the night for the Panthers as WSU closed out the quarter with an 11-4 run, seven of those coming from Smith.

The Raiders then used a 9-0 run late in the second half, including five by Simmons, to push the margin into double figures at 34-21 en route to a 36-23 halftime advantage. WSU hit 16 of 31 shots in the opening 20 minutes for 52 percent while holding Milwaukee to nine of 32 shooting for 28 percent.

The Panthers closed the gap to 38-34 by opening the third quarter with an 11-2 run, but an Emily Vogelpohl three and a Chelsea Welch basket pushed the lead back up to nine.

Milwaukee would get no closer than six the rest of the way as the Raiders scored the first seven points of the fourth quarter to go up 57-41 and extended the margin to as much as 21 on three different occasions.

Wright State shot 50 percent for the game compared to 32 percent for the Panthers and held a 41-32 rebounding advantage. WSU also led 42-18 in points in the paint and 18-13 in second-chance points.

Wright State wraps up the Wisconsin trip today with a 2 p.m. matchup at Green Bay (10-2, 1-0 Horizon), which received votes in this week’s Associated Press and USA Today Coaches polls.