But they nearly pulled of a huge upset Monday against undefeated West Virginia — which just missed being ranked in the AP Top 25 this week with the 27th-most voting points — before falling, 77-72.
Wright State guard Alexis Hutchison scored 37 points, which is the highest tally by a Raider in 10 seasons, and the game was tied with under two minutes to go.
“It was awesome. Our players played great,” coach Kari Hoffman said. “They were super focused and showed up. They started fast, and we didn’t let them get any early momentum. And then we just made shots.”
Turnovers led to a pair of buckets that gave the Mountaineers a 73-69 lead with 36 seconds left.
Hutchison hit a 3, and after two WVU foul shots, she had the ball at the end with a chance for a game-tying 3.
“I didn’t know if they were going to be in man or zone. They kept switching it up all game, and that kind of made it tough to draw up the right play,” Hoffman said.
“They ended up being in man. I drew up a zone play. But she still got a decent look off. It just came up a little short.”
The Raiders shot 51.2% and went 12 of 26 on 3′s and 12 of 14 on foul shots.
“Obviously, we’re disappointed to not finish the job because, for the majority of that game, we outplayed them and had the lead for 25 or 26 minutes,” Hoffman said.
“But it was a big-time environment and a really good team. And I was proud of our players for not really blinking.”
Hutchison, a 5-foot-7 fifth-year player who transferred from Division II Malone University, went 11 of 17 from the field, 6 of 11 on 3′s and 9 of 10 on foul shots.
“She was definitely in the zone. You can tell when players are feeling it like that. They basically shoot with their eyes closed, and it goes in,” Hoffman said of the Centerville High School grad.
“It was a really, really impressive game, and it didn’t surprise us. She’s an electric player.”
Her output against WVU was the most for the program since guard KC Elkins also had 37 against Valparaiso on March 8, 2014.
The last Raider to tally more than that was Kim Demmings, the Horizon League’s all-time scoring leader (2,677 points), who had 38 against Milwaukee on Jan. 14, 2012.
The school record is held by Tiffany Webb, who had 49 against Butler on Jan. 16, 2003.
The Raiders (6-5) are playing in the Las Vegas Holiday Hoops tournament Thursday and Friday.
After returning to campus Monday night, they loaded on a bus at 2:45 a.m. Tuesday and took a 6 a.m. flight out of Cincinnati.
They’ll play Wyoming and Presbyterian. Both games start at 5:30 p.m.
It’s a quick turnaround physically and emotionally, but Hoffman said: “It was cool that our players were really upset (after Monday’s loss). They were not satisfied with just playing well and coming out with a loss.
“They gave them punch after punch and, unfortunately, turnovers caught up with us. But that’s just the direction our program is going.”
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