Women's hoops march on to GLIAC semifinals

Women's hoops march on to GLIAC semifinals: Fresh off its first GLIAC regular season title since 1981, the Wayne State women’s basketball team hosted the Ferris State Bulldogs – its first postseason game at home since 2003 at the Matthaei on March 6 in the GLIAC tournament quarterfinals.
And the Warriors (20-7) did not disappoint the home crowd as they defeated the Bulldogs (13-13) for the third time this season, 68-59.

“We certainly had the momentum early, we got off to a great start, a fast start,” said Warriors head coach Carrie Lohr. “We started with a lot of focus, got a little bit sloppy, but we were able to pull it out.”

WSU got off to a hot start, hitting eight of its first 10 shots. The early charge was led by Talisha Bridges, who scored eight points on 4-of-4 shooting in the first 5:37 of the game to give the Warriors an 18-7 advantage.

The Warriors continued to dominate the Bulldogs, and at the 10:55 mark of the opening half, led 24-9.

But that’s when the momentum shifted in favor of FSU. WSU’s hot shooting turned cold, and that, coupled with sloppy play, allowed the Bulldogs to make it a 24-21 game with 7:12 to play in the half.

“I thought we looked real flat,” Lohr said. “We lost our spark, lost our energy. We had just kind of lost that fire that we had earlier.”

The Warriors responded, though, getting its lead back to double-digits, 32-22, with 3:41 remaining. They still led by 10 with time winding down when a long three-pointer from Bridges as the buzzer sounded gave WSU a 39-26 lead at halftime.

WSU kept a double-digit lead – leading by as many as 15 points – until the 14:07 mark of the second half as the Bulldogs cut it to nine at 48-39. FSU was only able to get within eight points until, with 2:34 remaining in the game, it trailed by six at 59-53.

But six was as close as the Bulldogs would get as the Warriors closed them out to advance to the GLIAC semifinals.

“I’m just really happy that we were able to keep it together,” Lohr said. “Kudos to Ferris, they really came at us and they wouldn’t go away.”

Bridges was the game’s high-scorer with 21 points to go along with five rebounds, four assists and two steals. Juanita Cochran finished with 14 points and a game-high 16 rebounds for her seventh double-double of the season.

“Talisha had the hot-hand tonight,” Lohr said. “The way she plays, how hard she plays, she’s not one dimensional by any means.

“If we’re going to be successful, Juanita needs to do that (have an impact on the game),” Lohr said. “It almost like we expect it, she expects it (recording a double-double).”

Kristen Long added 11 points, three rebounds and two assists off the bench.

The Warriors will head to Ashland, Ohio for a matchup with the Findlay Oilers on March 9. As the conference’s first-place team, the Ashland Eagles host the remainder of the tournament.

Findlay bested WSU in overtime, 90-84, in January – the only meeting between the two this season.

“I think we’re a better team than we were back then when we first faced them,” Lohr said. “But certainly I would expect that they’re probably a better team too. That game when we played them could have (gone) either way, and I expect it’s probably going to be the same on Saturday. It’s really going to come down to the focus and really valuing every possession.”