DETROIT -- The Wayne State University women's basketball team (17-2, 13-2 GLIAC) hosted Findlay (11-8, 7-8 GLIAC) on Monday night and cruised to a 93-70 win over the Oilers powered by career performances from
Shareta Brown (Pontiac, Mich. / Grand Blanc) and
Destiny Lavita-Stephens (
Grand Blanc, Mich. / Goodrich).
Brown recorded the second-ever triple-double in program history with 24 points, 16 rebounds and 10 assists. She nearly completed the task in the second half alone as she tallied 20 points, 15 boards and seven assists in the final 20 minutes. The previous triple-double was accomplished by
Stefani Munro (Harrison Twp., Mich. / Mount Clemens) who posted 11 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists against Ohio Dominican on
Dec. 15, 2011. Lavita-Stephens finished with a career-high 25 points and matched her career-best with five three-pointers.
With the win head
Carrie Lohr now has 74 victories, which is three wins shy of tying
Gary Bryce (1984-92) for second place on the all-time wins list in program history.
The Oilers led early, 13-9, after two free throws at the 15:12 mark. An old-fashioned three-point play from
Ondrea Hughes (Kalamazoo, Mich. / Loy Norrix) on the next possession trimmed the deficit to one.
Lavita-Stephens and
Brittany Streetman (Warren, Mich. / Lincoln) teamed up for back-to-back triples to put WSU on top 18-15 with 13:32 left in the half. Lavita-Stephens followed with two free throws to extend the lead to 27-20 and pushed her scoring total to 15 of the Warriors' 27 points.
Kelsey Lewis tied the game at 29-29 with a jumper with 6:31 left before halftime. Two free throws from
Gabby Machado (Pontiac, Mich. / Northern) pushed the home lead to five, 36-31 with just under three minutes to play but the Oilers would finish the stanza strong trailing by two, 39-37, heading to the locker rooms.
Lavita-Stephens' 15 points led all scorers while WSU shot 56 percent (14-of-25) in the opening period. Findlay scored 21 points off 12 WSU turnovers.
Lavita-Stephens continued to have the hot hand in the second half with seven straight points including two three-pointers to match her previous career-high of 23 points. WSU led 55-49 at the 16-minute mark. A three-point play from Brown gave the Green & Gold a 10-point lead, 65-55, with 12:30 left to play. Brown continued to roll as she scored 11 consecutive points to propel WSU's advantage to 71-56 at the 10:35 mark.
Brown followed a
Kristen Long (Corunna, Mich. / Durand) triple with a bucket to extend to Warriors' lead to 20 points, 85-65, with four minutes remaining. WSU controlled the final three minutes and cruised to the 90-73 win.
Streetman posted her fourth consecutive double-digit scoring performance. The Warrior had their best shooting game of the season, finishing with a 61 percent (36-59) clip including an 11-of-15 mark from behind the arc.
The Warriors last scored at least 90 point in back-to-back regular season games in 2004 when they beat Mercyhurst 102-73 and then Gannon 97-72. Earlier this season, WSU scored 94 points against Lawrence Tech and then 95 at Eastern Michigan but both were exhibition contests.
WSU will host Tiffin on Thursday at 5:30 PM to conclude the three game home stand.