DETROIT, Mich. – The Ohio Dominican women's basketball team showed some grit at Wayne State (Mich.) on Thursday evening rallying from a first half hole, but could never get under a five-point deficit the rest of the way as the hot-shooting Warriors picked up the conference win, 74-56.

With the home win, Wayne State remained unbeaten all-time versus the Panthers and improved to 6-3 and 2-2 in the GLIAC, while ODU dropped its fourth straight to move to 5-4 and 1-4 in conference play.

The Warriors inside game was the deciding factor as WSU finished with a decisive 58-16 advantage in the paint and notched 58 rebounds, including 16 on the offensive side, the most by a Panther opponent this season.

Trailing 45-30 five and half minutes into the second half, ODU closed to within six at the midway point as the Panthers' seniors Meredith Fox (Springboro, OH), Katy Rasor (Grove City, OH) and Abby Glover (Centerville, OH) combined for a 10-1 run.

Wayne State built the lead back out to 10 with a quick 6-2 spurt. Once again ODU clawed back, this time to within 54-49 at the 5:33 mark with a 7-2 run of its own as Rasor followed a free throw by sophomore Christina Pentaudi (Dayton, OH) with back-to-back triples from the left side. However, the Panthers could draw no closer as the Warriors pulled away with 20 of the final 27 points, concluding the game 30-of-61 (49.2 percent) from the floor.

After strong starts to its last two games, ODU struggled out of the gates against WSU as 20 of the Panthers' first 24 shot attempts went awry. The Warriors, on the other hand, opened the game, hitting 10-of-15 buckets en route to building a 15-point advantage, 34-19, with 1:55 to go. ODU though closed the half on a 7-0 run to remain within reach at the break, 34-26, as sophomore Mykeila Mast (Millersburg, OH) equaled her career high with four points and Pentaudi lined a deep three during the run.

Rasor led the Panthers with 15 points, matching her career high of five treys for the third time this year, while Pentaudi once again paced the ODU bench, reaching double figures for the third time with 11 points. Glover, the GLIAC's third-leading rebounder entering tonight, collected double-digit boards for the fifth outing this season with a team-high 11.

Phaebre Colbert matched her career high with 25 points off the bench for WSU on 12-of-16 shooting to lead all scorers, while Stefani Munro pulled off the rare triple-double feat with 11 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists.

Up next for the Panthers is a visit to last year's South Division champion, Findlay, at 5 p.m. this Saturday, Dec. 17 at Croy Gymnasium.

Contact: Bryan Desch
deschb@ohiodominican.edu