The fourth-seeded Raiders had one of their worst shooting nights of the year, but they dominated the bulk of the fourth quarter in rolling to a 70-60 victory over Milwaukee on Thursday.
They held the fifth-seeded Panthers to 33.3% shooting and had a 42-34 rebounding edge, including 14 on the offensive end.
“I’ve never seen this team defend that hard and be that urgent to get stops,” Hoffman said. “We came down with all the boards we needed to and got a lot of offensive rebounds, too.”
The Raiders (18-14) trailed, 55-51, after two Milwaukee free throws with 5:21 to go in the fourth period. But they ripped off 14 straight points — eight from Alexis Hutchison and six from Layne Ferrell — to take a 65-55 lead with 55 seconds to go.
Before that surge, they never led by more than three, and they were down by eight in the second quarter.
“That’s what has to happen — championship plays. We talked about it all week. And I’m just really, really proud of them,” Hoffman said.
The Raiders had been shooting 33.1% from 3 (fourth in the league) and were making 7.9 per game (second), but they started 1 for 20.
“We were shooting really, really bad. But I believe in these guys and their ability to shoot the ball. I said, ‘No one passes up an open 3,’” Hoffman said.
Cara VanKempen helped the Raiders get untracked, drilling three, and they finished 9 of 34.
And Ferrell made three buckets in the lane in that late run when Wright State finally penetrated Milwaukee’s zone.
“I’ve been after her to take shots, and she took the biggest ones and didn’t hesitate,” Hoffman said of Ferrell. “She’s just a really good player and made it happen late.”
Hutchison finished with 23 points, Ferrell 17 and VanKempen 11.
The Raiders were out-rebounded by 19 and 17 in splitting the first two games with Milwaukee (16-16). Rachel Loobie had a game-high 10, Ferrell eight and Hutchison seven.
“That was a big point of emphasis the last two days in practice,” Ferrell said. “We know that’s probably what got us beat the last time we played them. … We knew we had to take care of the boards.”
Hutchison, who was named first-team all-league earlier in the week, transferred in the offseason after playing four years at Division-II Malone.
She’s led the Raiders to a 10-win improvement from last year.
“Coming in, I really didn’t care what the record was. I just wanted to make a difference on the team,” she said.
“I wanted to make Coach proud. She knew me before I got here. I wanted to make her proud and my teammates proud, and we’re going to Indy!”
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