Raiders claim No. 4 seed, open Horizon League tourney at home

The Wright State wom- en’s basketball team went into the final two games of the regular-season in prime position to claim one of the top four seeds in the Horizon League tournament and get a quarterfinal home game.

The Raiders didn’t make it easy on themselves, though.

They felt as if they gave one away in the first game at Oakland, having led by 10 early in the fourth quarter before falling, 84-82, in double overtime Thursday.

Coach Kari Hoffman said she had a couple of sleepless nights after that.

“That’s the type of game that eats at a coach bad,” she said. “It’s one where we had it. We were in control.

And we handed that game to them.

“Credit them for making the plays to win it. But it just felt like we were trying not to lose. We weren’t going to take advantage of what we’d done for the whole majority of the game. We were playing great.”

The Raiders didn’t mess around at Detroit Mercy. They built a 10-point edge in the first quarter and never gave up the lead, stretching it to 14 before settling for a 66-56 victory Saturday afternoon.

They’re 17-14 overall and 11-9 in the league, and they earned the No. 4 seed and their first bye into the quarterfinals in Hoffman’s three years.

They’ll play Thursday at the Nutter Center against fifth-seeded Milwaukee (1615, 10-10) at 5:30 p.m.

“I don’t know if that (loss) was a motivating factor. It was more of, ‘We’ve got to grit this one out. We’re exhausted,’” Hoffman said.

Alexis Hutchison had 22 points and Kacee Baumhower 16, while Layne Ferrell had nine points and nine rebounds.

Cleveland State (27-4, 18-2) earned the top seed, while Green Bay (24-6, 17-3) is second.