Veritable WSU basketball festival at Nutter Center

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By Marc Katz, Staff Writer 10:54 PM Tuesday, December 1, 2009

FAIRBORN — Basketball fans ought to find plenty to keep them occupied the next two nights at the Nutter Center.

Tonight, Dec. 2, the Wright State women host No. 16 Vanderbilt at 7. The Raiders enter the game on a three-game winning streak, while Vanderbilt is 6-0.

Thursday, the men’s team hosts Cleveland State in an ESPNU game beginning at 9. Because of the late start for the defending Horizon League tournament champion’s invasion, WSU is holding a free pregame pizza party in the McLin Gym from 7 to 8:30.

Saturday, Youngstown State visits for a men’s game at the normal time of 7 p.m. Again, it’s a Horizon League game.

Women’s coach Bridgett Williams is excited about having Vanderbilt visit, even knowing three of her team’s next four games are against ranked teams. Sunday, the Raiders are at No. 25 Dayton, and Dec. 15 they play at No. 3 Ohio State.

“Part of the whole idea of playing these teams is to get better and to play at a level that has been exhibited by these teams,” Williams said. “What a great way to bring that type of basketball here, to expose our kids to that level.

“There’s so many positive aspects, I don’t look at the ranking as something we should fear or be intimidated about.

“When we brought in UConn my first year, they had Tamika Williams (a Dayton native).”

That was New Year’s Eve, 2001, and No. 1 UConn demolished the Raiders 97-39. That’s not the first thing Bridgett Williams remembers.

“What happened was it was great exposure for our program and getting the community to come to our game,” Williams said. “This place was packed. We hope to get the same response by having Vanderbilt come in here. Fans want to see good basketball. They don’t want to see same old, same old. They want to see some of the great things they’ve seen on TV that are near by.”

Six Raiders are averaging 8 points or more, led by junior LaShawna Thomas at 13.8 and sophomore Molly Fox at 10.0.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2157  or mkatz@DaytonDailyNews.com.

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