Warriors fall to No. 2 Ashland in Sweet 16, 72-63

Warriors fall to No. 2 Ashland in Sweet 16, 72-63: The magical run has come to an end.

The Wayne State women’s basketball team (22-9) had an eight-point lead with 11:42 remaining in its Sweet 16 matchup with the No. 2 Ashland Eagles (34-1), but couldn’t seal the deal as the Eagles rallied to claim a 72-63 Midwest Regional championship victory on March 18, ending the Warriors’ season.

Playing on its home court, Ashland held an 11-4 lead after 4:31 of play. The Warriors scored five consecutive points to make it an 11-9 game at the 13:13 mark of the opening half.

The Eagles extended their lead to double-digits, 23-13, with a 12-4 run. WSU cut the deficit to six at 25-19 with 5:01 remaining in the half. But Ashland built its lead up to 11 at 32-21 and held a 36-26 lead at halftime.

WSU came out of intermission strong, going on a 12-2 run to tie the game at 38 with 16:14 minutes left.

Ashland reclaimed the lead for a moment, but an 8-0 gave the Warriors a 50-42 lead with 11:42 to play in the contest. The Eagles chipped away at the lead and tied the game at 58 with 6:08 to go.

The Warriors quickly regained the lead, but Ashland would tie. A Talisha Bridges free throw gave WSU a 61-60 lead with 4:34 remaining, but it would be its final lead of the game.

An Eagles jumper gave them a 62-61 lead and they outscored WSU 9-2 in the final 2:54 to advance to the Elite 8.

In their final game as Warriors, Bridges and Juanita Cochran had big games to lead WSU. Bridges finished with a game-high 18 points, nine rebounds, a game-high four steals and four blocks. Cochran recorded another double-double, scoring 15 points and grabbing a game-high 17 rebounds, as well as tallying a game-high five blocks. Fellow senior Phaebre Colbert added 10 points and six rebounds off the bench.

WSU finished one win shy of the school record of 23-5 set by the 1980-81 team.

Now that they have established themselves as a viable tournament team, WSU will look to build upon this success for the future.

__Check back with The South End to read a recap of the entire season as well as thoughts from Coach Lohr and the players about their tournament run.__