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 Kristen Rogers had 21 points in her final game. |
Feb. 28, 2006
ASHLAND, Ohio - The Wayne State women's basketball team had its season come to an end with an 88-79 loss at Ashland University (20-9) in a GLIAC Tournament Quarterfinal Tuesday night at Kates Gymnasium. The fourth-seeded Warriors (10-17) trailed by just four points at the half, but AU, the South Division's top seed, made eight free throws in the final 1:27 to move on to the league semifinals.
The Eagles started off with a 5-0 lead before senior Kristen Rogers (Lansing, Mich.) drained a three-pointer at the 18:11 mark. The Eagles took advantage of four Warrior turnovers to pull ahead 13-5 in the first five minutes of the game.
After Kristen Rogers' second three of the night, Ashland scored six unanswered for an 11-point lead. But WSU's Rogers sisters hit back-to-back three-pointers to make the score 19-14 with 11:27 to play in the first half.
Ashland took its largest lead of the half (37-26) on long-range jumper with 4:36 on the clock. The Warriors cut it to 38-33 a few possessions later highlighted by Casey Banks (Detroit, Mich.) and Brittany White (Chicago, Ill.) jumpers.
Junior Cherita Smith (Grand Rapids, Mich.) swatted away an AU attempt, grabbed the rebound and hit a jumper on the other end to get the Warriors within five points with just over a minute left before the break. WSU forced a shot-clock violation on the defensive end, and Kristen Rogers hit another three to make it a two-point game. But with less than 10 seconds left, Ashland's Amber Rall made a pair of foul shots to put AU ahead, 42-38, at the half.
The Eagles increased their lead back up to 11 points as WSU went scoreless for the first 2:47 of the second half, and scored just three total points in the first seven minutes.
Smith then heated up, hitting back-to-back three-pointers with 10:41 to go that cut the Eagle lead down to 61-53, but Ashland countered with a 7-1 run. Smith's fourth three in five minutes then made it a 10-point game.
Ashland led by 13 until WSU freshman Chastidy Miller (White Lake, Mich.) scored five straight points with 2:18 left. But Wayne State was forced to foul the Eagles the rest of the way.
Miller tied her career-high with 21 points off the bench. Kristen Rogers also had 21 points and seven assists, while Smith scored 20 and had three blocks.
Kristen Rogers finishes her career with 1056 points, ranking 13th all-time. She holds the single-game (8) and career (171) record for three-pointers, as well as the career mark free throw percentage (83.7).
