CINCINNATI — Despite a double-double from Lakeisha Crouch and a career-high 17 boards from Jenna Crittendon the Xavier women’s basketball team fell to Wright State 66-65 Saturday afternoon in front of 992 at Cintas Center. With the loss, the Musketeers fell to 4-5 on the season while Wright State improved to 5-4.
Xavier senior forward Amber Gray led the Musketeers with 18 points on 6-of-10 from the field including a perfect 3-of-3 from 3-point land. Crouch posted a double-double with 10 points on 4-of-6 from the field and 11 rebounds.
Crittendon led XU in the rebounding column with a game best and a career-high 17 rebounds.
Wright State’s Kim Demmings led all scorers with 29 points on 10-of-26 shooting from the field and 4-of-8 from behind the arc. The Raiders shot 42.4 percent from the field in the second half compared to 39.3 in the first frame to edge the Musketeers. Wright State opened the second half with a 14-4 run to cut the XU lead to 45-42 with 15:30 left in the game. The Raiders took the lead at the 13:54 mark in the second half on a 3-pointer by Breanna Stucke that extended WSU’s half-opening run to 21-4.
Ty O’Neill tied the game at 53-all with a drive and a layup with 9:52 left in the game and Gray followed with a 3-pointer that put XU up 56-53.
It was not to be, however, as WSU rallied back in the final two minutes to edge the Musketeers 66-65.
The Musketeers led the Raiders 41-26 at halftime thanks to eight points each from Shatyra Hawkes and Ashley Wanninger. Hawks’ eight points came on 3-of-5 from the field in the first half and two free throws while Wanninger went of 2-of-5 from behind the arc and 3-of-6 from the field.
Stucke led the way for the Raiders with seven first half points on 2-of-3 from the field.
As a team, the Musketeers shot at a 53.3 percent clip in the first period on 16-of-30 from the field while holding the Raiders to just 34.8 percent from the floor.
Gray’s layup with 13:49 left in the first half gave XU a 13-9 lead and started a 17-10 six-minute scoring run by the Musketeers.
Wanninger’s lone two-pointer of the first half came with 4:32 left to play in the period and capped a 5-0 Musketeer run to end the first frame.
Xavier returns to action Tuesday December 18, as the Musketeers host UNCW at 7 p.m. Live stats and video will be available at GoXavier.com.
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