DETROIT -- The sixth-ranked Wayne State University women's basketball team (13-1 overall, 9-1 GLIAC) won its ninth consecutive contest defeating Ohio Dominican University (4-12 overall, 1-9 GLIAC) 86-76 at the Matthaei Saturday afternoon. The nine straight victories is tied for the fifth-longest streak in school history and marks the third consecutive year the Warriors have had at least a nine-game winning streak (9 games from Jan. 19-Feb. 21, 2013; and 10 games from Dec. 5, 2013-Jan. 11, 2014). The 13-1 start is tied for the second-best in program history with the 1976-77 squad. The 1980-81 GLIAC Championship squad began its season with 11 wins and following a loss at Oakland rattled off nine more victories before a setback at Youngstown State.
WSU took a lead just seconds into the contest as senior center
Shareta Brown (Pontiac, Mich. / Grand Blanc) won the opening tip to sophomore forward
Gabby Machado (Pontiac, Mich. / Northern), who fed junior guard
Brittany Streetman (Warren, Mich. / Lincoln) for an easy lay-up. The Panthers knotted the game at two on the ensuing possession as Jakie Oestreich hit a jumper from the paint. After Brown's conventional three-point play, Oestreich scored again to make it a one-point game. The teams traded buckets before an 18-4 WSU run in just under seven minutes gave the hosts its largest lead of the first half at 15 points (25-10). Five different Warriors scored led by Brown's six points.
Wayne State led by 14 (36-22) following an offensive rebound and put-back by Machado with just over five minutes left before intermission. The Panthers ended the opening stanza on a 14-2 run as Kayla Cook scored eight points for ODU.
The Warriors led 38-36 at the break as both teams shot 42 percent (WSU 15-of-35; ODU 14-of-33) from the floor in the opening 20 minutes. The biggest difference favored ODU in bench points at 24-11.
Oestreich started the second half with a bucket and when Kacee Hockenberry connected on a jumper, the Panthers had their first lead of the contest at 40-38. Brown tallied the game's next six points and Streetman followed with a fast-break hoop off a feed from senior guard
Jackie Jones (Detroit, Mich. / Martin Luther King), who had a game-high seven assists.
Ohio Dominican pulled within four on a couple of occasions (46-42 and 48-44), prior to Wayne State responding with a 15-6 run. Jones recorded WSU's first seven points during the spurt, while Streetman contributed a triple and a jumper and junior guard
Destiny Lavita-Stephens (Grand Blanc, Mich. / Goodrich) chipped in with a long-range three-pointer.
The Warriors lead would remain between seven and 13 points for the next seven minutes until Streetman split a pair from the charity stripe for a 14-point margin (77-63) with 3:26 left. A 13-5 Panther run over the next 2:50 cut the Wayne State advantage to six points (82-76) with 37 seconds remaining. Lavita-Stephens sank a pair from the foul line in a one-and-one situation with 33.6 seconds left pushing the lead to eight (84-76).
Following a steal by junior guard
Kristen Long (Corunna, Mich. / Durand), she made one of two free throws and on ODU's next possession, Machado grabbed the rebound and Brown finished the scoring by making the first of two foul shots.
Both teams made 16 field goals in the second half as the Warriors shot 52 percent (16-of-31) compared to 43 percent (16-of-37) for the Panthers.
Brown earned her 13th double-double of the campaign with game-high totals of 22 points, 15 rebounds and three blocked shots to lead four Warriors in double figures. Streetman finished one point and one triple made off her career highs of 20 points and five triples as she totaled 19 points and four three-pointers. She has made 7-of-11 from beyond the arc over the last three contests.
Lavita-Stephens totaled 13 points, while Jones added 11 points to go along with her aforementioned game-best seven assists.
Hockenberry led Ohio Dominican with 16 points, while Tori Beth Leader and Kayla Cook chipped in with 13 and 12 points, respectively off the Panther bench. Cook also led ODU with seven rebounds, while Madi Rittinger had a game-best four steals.
Wayne State hits the road for three more road games to complete this stretch of six road contests in a seven-game span. WSU will visit Lake Erie College on Thursday for a 5:30 p.m. tip-off followed by a Saturday tilt at Ashland.