WSU professors weigh in on Ukraine crisis
WSU alum, lawyer and human rights activist dies
See News, page 2
See Features, page 5
Warrior swim and dive teams place in national championship See Sports, page 6
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WSU professors analyze Ukrainian-Russian conflict
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The New York Times reported on Saturday, March 15 that Russian troops had seized a gas terminal just beyond the regional border of Crimea the day before the population was set to vote on a secession referendum. As the situation in the region continues to develop, two Wayne State professors offered comments on the history of the region, as well as insights into what the future may hold for the former Soviet republic. Aaron Retish, associate professor of history, and Alisa Moldavanova, assistant professor of political science, discussed a brief history of Ukraine and offered insights into corruption in both the society and culture. “Corruption, as well as the perception of corruption and the fight against it, all are pivots of political changes in Ukraine,” Retish said. “Yanukovych was deeply corrupt, engaged in cronyism and appointed friends and relatives to all the best posts. He made himself wealthy, as well as his friends. After he was deposed, protesters went
into his residence and found documents detailing many of these things. It’s just astounding the amount of corruption.” Moldavanova was born in Ukraine and lived there until 2007. Moldavanova agreed that corruption exists, but said Ukraine wants to follow “a different path.” She said corruption remains a problem in many areas and attributed much of this to a lack of trust for the government. According to Moldavanova, “There have been a number of attempts to quell corruption, but with a return of ‘old school’ government, little progress has been made in the application of legislation to reform.” This “old school” government alludes to Soviet era style rule. She said many there want nothing to do with Russia; while the older generation may be more sympathetic with Russia, any kind of generational divide has been on the decline, and “a strong sense of nationalism is emerging among many.” The recent activities involving Russian soldiers in Crimea has much to do with the past as it does the present. While recent media reports have cited natural
much — he didn’t know the Soviet Union was going to collapse. Crimea, as a semi-autonomous region in Ukraine, has an odd relationship, as well as being a strategic military region.” The professors agreed that Russian president Vladimir Putin’s strategy at this point is to contribute to Ukrainian instability. “Putin’s ally in Ukraine (Yanakovich) was ousted,” Retish said. “If Putin will not have an ally in Kiev, he will try and compensate by destabilizing Ukraine by carving it up, destabilizing it and also making territorial gains. He will try to get something out of a bad situation.” “I think their goal is to make Ukraine weak and unpredictable and not a serious partner for the European Union,” Moldavanova said. Regarding the Russian population, she offered the following: “It’s my hope that people in Russia will see that the government they have is violating their own rights and freedom, and they will come to support Ukraine and engage in public peaceful protest; it could help to bring a wave of democracy to Russia and its people.”
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resources as reasons for Russia’s involvement, there is a historical aspect as well. “Crimea is an exceptional case in Ukraine for a couple of reasons,” Retish said. “About 58 percent of the population is Russian (although numbers are fuzzy, based on a 2010 census, and identity is always shifting) Crimea is pro-Russian, and a couple of things make it exceptional. It is an autonomous region in Ukraine — it has its own parliament. Crimea also has a large Tatar (Muslim) population, who were displaced several times. They were mistreated by the Soviet Union, deported, arrested and killed. Their attitude toward Russia is quite negative.” The population divide makes Crimea exceptional in Ukraine, but its history is also unique. Retish said, “Crimea and Russia have a tight history; it became a place of colonization for Russians to move into. Many older Russians see Crimea as Russia. It was during the Soviet Union, and it was where people went to excursions and spas — it was always seen as part of Russia. (Nikita) Khrushchev gave Crimea to Ukraine, but that didn’t mean
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Student Senate, Provost brainstorm gen ed requirements CHRIS EHRMANN The South End The Student Senate at Wayne State met for their biweekly meeting March 6. During the meeting, the senate discussed rescheduling for students in the future and some of the new features the student body might want to see on campus. Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Margaret Winters attended the meeting to discuss the topics
with the senate. Winters also mentioned that a student from WSU took first place in the Michigan Japanese public speaking contest for the first time. Regarding scheduling for students, problems like general education requirements were discussed. If a student were to change their major halfway through the school year, a problem that can arise is that their credits will not count. Another issue related to changing majors is the fact that a class might count for a student in one field for the general education
requirement, but not for a student in another area of study. Winters also said they were looking forward to utilizing the new four-year plan for students. The four-year plan will help students stay on track for the schedules, helping them graduate on time. Another topic that was discussed was the school newspaper. Some suggestions were given that students should be able to see more cultural pieces as well as more student experience pieces, as well as some midtown news pieces.
After the guests spoke, the senate also elected a member to the governmental affairs position. Ashraf Jaber, who has been a senator-at-large, was elected to the position. The senate finished up with notes and adjourned for the meeting. Anyone interested in attending Student Senate meetings can find their information on their website with a full schedule of meetings. The next meeting will be March 20 in the Bernath Auditorium at the Undergraduate Library.
Antiquated play shuffles alongside racism accusations JEREMY WILLIAMS Contributing Writer Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright SuziLori Parks’ tenable adaptation of Gershwin’s “Porgy and Bess” premiered March 4 at the Detroit Opera House. What was Gershwin thinking with his spectacle? Poor, violent, cocaine-sniffing black folk sing diction-perfect opera while dancing happy jitterbug jubilations on raggedy Catfish Row. “Porgy and Bess” is an ambiguous, operatic jambalaya of racial stereotypes, comedy, tragedy, song and dance. “Porgy and Bess” is a timeless American tale of life, love and sacrifice within the downtrodden corridors of a fictitious black tenement called Catfish Row. Porgy is a poor, indolent beggar, and Bess is a two-timing Jezebel addicted to fastliving, booze, “happy-dust,” and a low-life dockworker named Crown. There are three aspects of this musical to consider: its inspiration, imagination and its production. The production of “Porgy and Bess” is nothing less than superior; Riccardo Hernandez’s scenic design is majestic. Christopher Akerlind’s lighting added depth and emotion and Nathaniel Stampley’s Porgy is purely dignified and justly proud. Alicia Hall Moran’s portrayal of Bess left me feeling ambivalent at various moments during the play. I loved her salacious portrayal of a troubled woman among seedy men, but there were other moments where Moran’s
talent truly resonated and delivered the interminable anguish of Bess. In numbers like “Bess, You Is My Woman Now,” or the passionate “I Loves You, Porgy,” Moran’s dissonant voice is rightly dark and morose – a rich accompaniment to Stampley’s sonorous proclamations of both love and pain. Sumayya Ali and David Hughey (Clara and Jake) also do a marvelous rendition of “Summertime.” Overall, the performance and production of “Porgy and Bess” was superbly executed. Gershwin’s imaginative depiction of black life in 1920s Charleston, S.C., shiftless and sentimental Porgy and the tragic mulatto Bess, left me unsettled, confused and unable to ignore the racist elements that have haunted Gershwin’s piece since its inception. I arrived thirty minutes before curtains to make sure I would get to my seat in time to relax and collect snacks. I noticed that most of the theatergoers there were white. I’d never seen so many white people showing up to a black theatre production. The question sat on my mind for the remainder of the night: what is it about this particular black-cast production that commands so much white attention? Could it be Gershwin’s brilliant synthesis of Euro-American musical elements with American jazz and black musical traditions? Gershwin’s cunning mockery of black life on Catfish Row – impoverished but carefree black folk, with their violent and backwards lifestyles shot-through with cheap whiskey, illicit behaviors and drug
abuse? Is it the insane spectacle of seeing poor black folk expressing their anguish and frustrations in diction-perfect opera over sophisticated orchestral arrangements? Or could it be all of the above? Really, what makes “Porgy and Bess” so seductive to white audiences? Black playwright Lorraine Hansberry, appearing on a Chicago television talkshow with “Porgy and Bess” film director Otto Preminger, suggested that Gershwin’s musical “represents the ‘exotic’ for the dominant white culture in America, with all the suggestion of titillation that that implies … whites’ tendency to use aspects of black culture for vicarious thrill.” The inspiration for Gershwin’s “Porgy and Bess” began with DuBose Heyward’s publication of a novella about black life on Catfish Row. A few years prior to the release of his book, Heyward came across a newspaper article about a man named Samuel Smalls, a handicapped man with a goat cart who was charged with aggravated assault when he attemped to shoot his supposed lover, Maggie Barnes. Heyward clipped the article with intentions to write what he called a Negro novel. By 1925 he published “Porgy,” and the following year the book caught the attention of the Gershwin brothers. The three men set about the business of bringing Gershwin’s “Porgy and Bess” musical to production. In a 1925 article submitted to The Bookman literary journal, Heyward wrote that the Southern writer’s duty to “good taste
... took the Negro’s sense of humor as a keynote, caricatured it beyond recognition, and produced a comedian so detached from life that he could be laughed at heartily without the least disloyalty to the taboo.” Gershwin visited Heyward in Charleston anxious to interact with local blacks, “hear some spirituals and perhaps go to a colored café or two if there are any.” During an interview, legendary pianist Duke Ellington agreed with white critic Edward Morrow that “the times are here to debunk such tripe as Gershwin’s lamp-black Negroisms.” Black scholar and cultural critic Harold Cruse called Porgy and Bess “the most incongruous, contradictory cultural symbol ever created in the Western World.” Harry Belafonte refused to participate in Preminger’s 1959 film adaptation. Rudi Blesh, a white jazz critic, wrote “Gershwin’s ‘Porgy and Bess’ is not Negro opera despite a Negro cast, a liberal use of artificial coloration, and the inclusion of some street cries.” Many critics simply noted the musical’s lack of cultural authenticity: poor black folk don’t talk and sing like that. One contemporary critic suggested that “Porgy and Bess” “was concocted for white folk.” The responses to the racist elements in “Porgy and Bess” continue to proliferate. But at the end of the day, “Porgy and Bess” is a part of American history, like it or not — an indelible stamp that will always find an audience. It’s there in black and white, and it’s here to stay.
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Students pitch in to help bring healthcare to the homeless
COURTESY STREET MEDICINE DETROIT
LYNN LOSH TSE Correspondent Every Tuesday morning, several Wayne State medical students gather medical supplies and board a bus heading to a Detroit soup kitchen. Their mission? To help the homeless. The students are part of Street Medicine Detroit, a nonprofit WSU student organization that helps give medical attention to the city’s homeless population. Dean Carpenter, a nurse practitioner, heads and oversees the SMD street runs. Each run usually consists of Carpenter, a SMD board member and four volunteers. SMD goes out every Tuesday and the second Thursday of the month and sometimes on Saturdays. The team usually frequents soup kitchens and warming stations, but will sometimes also go to random locations on the street. The idea for SMD came from Jonathan Wong, a current three-year medical student. After speaking with some of the medical school administrators, Wong decided to link his idea with the Neighborhood Service Organization, a community service organization that offers homeless recovery services. SMD is mainly partnered with NSO’s Tumani Center, an emergency shelter located on Martin Luther King Boulevard and Third Street. The mobile care unit sees anywhere between 2-12 patients per run and has had around 300 patient encounters since it began. “It’s very mobile, but it’s about as much of a clinic as we can bring with us,” said Cecily DuBusker, WSU medical student and vice president of SMD. “We have some testing abilities. We do some wound care. We do a lot of health counseling. We see a lot of people with depression issues and things like that. We run pretty much a gamet of
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primary care services.” The mobile aspect of SMD is perhaps its most important. “(Meeting) people where they’re at, that’s basically the national street medicine motto,” DuBusker said. “I believe in what that can do to change someone’s perspective on their health and what they can do to receive care and what they can do for their own lives.” Carpenter agrees that mobile care is necessary in regards to treating the homeless. “I was thinking to myself when I was here (before SMD) how many people are out there that don’t come into the center ... I’m always wondering what kind of disease is out there, lingering, and Street Medicine provides (a solution for) that,” Carpenter said. Follow up and continuity of care are two of the major objectives of SMD. “One of the ongoing challenges, and this is definitely the case with any kind of street medicine work, is follow up,” DuBusker said. “Building the relationship is one of the most important things of this work — seeing people over and over again because you never know where people are in their behavior change.” Although SMD doesn’t have access to labs and X-ray machines, they complete physical examinations on patients and fill out charts regarding a patient’s’ medical history, mood and possible ailments. With the information gathered from the exam, Carpenter and SMD can make an educated decision on how best to diagnose and treat a patient. The leader and volunteers can give medication that they bring to the patients, under the advisory of Carpenter. SMD gives out antibiotics, blood pressure medication, flu shots, some limited pain medication, medication for seizures and some psychotropic medications. SMD can access a patient’s former medical prescriptions through a computerized
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partnership with Detroit Medical Center. Local pharmacies are also usually compliant when SMD contacts them seeking patient information. SMD receives some funding from WSU and from grants. They also receive medication donations from World Medical Relief and the greater population. The most common ailments SMD sees are diabetes, high-blood pressure, and this winter, frostbite. Carpenter has encountered some patients with more serious health issues. He has seen gunshot wounds, ulcers due to drug use, HIV/AIDS infections and victims of violence. If an ailment is severe enough, SMD will recommend the patient go to the hospital, but in a worst-case scenario, SMD will call an ambulance. Many of the homeless population have had bad experiences with healthcare providers, or don’t have the transportation to receive the care they need. SMD is dedicated to providing patients with quality healthcare, as well as respect. “There (are) a lot of people who aren’t taken care of by the system,” said Eleanor Kotov, who joined SMD in the fall semester. “Our organization has done a lot toward showing them empathy and treating them how they deserve (to be treated). I’m really proud to be a part of (SMD).” While SMD allows patients who may not be comfortable in a hospital or clinic to receive care, it also allows students to get a unique, hands-on experience. “It has opened my eyes to things that you don’t see when you work in a doctor’s office ... you get to see things that are very specific to situations outside a doctor’s office,” said Joseph Kalejaye, an MSU nursing student in his final year of nursing school. He is doing his clinical requirement at the Tumani center. According to the Homeless Action Network of Detroit, the city’s homeless population count was 19,714 in 2012. In a
city with harsh winters and hot summers, the weather can take a toll on unsheltered citizens. The Homeless Death Prevention Survey, taken in 2010, compared the rates of Detroit’s homeless residents to the U.S. as whole. The survey found that Detroit’s homeless are 9 percent more likely to die on the street than the average homeless citizen in the U.S. “The homeless in Detroit are at higher risk for dying,” Carpenter said. “We have few community health centers compared to other cities.” SMD is trying to fill this void by taking the care to the streets. “We may not be able to get everybody, but hopefully we can get some,” said Darlene Coleman, a community health worker and the case manager for the NSO. “If it wasn’t for (the mobile care unit), a lot of them could be dead.” While SMD is treating patients, NSO workers are taking their information and trying to help them find shelter. “The ultimate goal is to get them into housing,” Carpenter said. “Another goal is to get them into primary care. In the meantime, we try to provide as close to primary care as we can.” SMD allows any WSU medical student to assist on street runs, and the nonprofit gets newcomers on most runs. “It was fulfilling,” said freshman WSU medical student Daniel Warren of his first street run. “I think it gives you a perspective on the problems in society … you don’t really realize how bad it is.” Jawan Gorgis, also a first-year WSU medical student, agrees. “I really liked it a lot,” she said. “I’ve done a lot of studentrun clinics. You’re just more aware of their issues and it makes you feel for them and it makes you feel like you’re making a difference. It’s like you’re treating the whole person, and not just an illness.”
Activist and WSU law alum Chokwe Lumumba dies at 66
COURTESY REUTHER LIBRARY
PAT ANDRZEJCZYK The South End Wayne State doesn’t seem like a university that would have a long and storied history of radical politics, or a connection to the Black Power movement. In fact, judging from its knit-capped hipsters and thoroughly-gentrified surroundings, one could be forgiven for not knowing about human rights activist and lawyer Chokwe Lumumba, and his death this February in Jackson, Miss., or of his time at WSU. A little history lesson: the riots and assassinations, racial tension and the decline of the auto industry framed daily life at WSU in the 1960s. Even today, their effects are plain to see – plainer if you take the time to walk a few blocks off campus and see the city still scarred by its racist past. It was around this time in 1970 that Lumumba, born Edwin Taliferro, enrolled at the WSU School of Law. In a letter to the Michigan Citizen, friend and associate Herb Boyd said of Lumumba, “He (would) often come to Wayne State where I was teaching to meet with other activists on campus. The late radical attorney Kenny Cockrel was his idol, and that may have been one of his reasons for later setting his goals on a law career.” In his first year at WSU, Lumumba took up the cause of 18 Black law students who received failing grades. The students
alleged they had been unjustly failed by a racially-discriminatory system. Lumumba agreed and sued the university – and won. WSU made its grading system anonymous, and all but two of the previously failing law students ended up graduating. Lumumba himself graduated cum laude in 1975. His time after WSU was where Lumumba really made his mark, though. After graduating, Lumumba helped found the Malcom X Cultural Center in Detroit. The center was a fixture in the community; members there could fill their fridges from the center’s food co-op and avail themselves of free legal aid if they were in trouble. The youth center was a major force in attempts to curtail gang violence in the surrounding neighborhoods. Lumumba took on a few high-profile cases around that time as well. In 1981, Lumumba defended Fulani Sunni Ali and other members of a Black revolutionary group who were accused of murdering two police officers and a security guard during an armored truck heist in New York. The case didn’t start out well for Lumumba. His main client, Ali, was imprisoned at the outset, and the presiding judge had Lumumba barred from defending his client on the basis of his political beliefs, values and personal behavior in the courtroom. Through legal wrangling, clever posturing and public support from the New York Civil Liberties Union, Lumumba success-
fully had all but two of his clients acquitted on all major charges in an astounding defeat for the U.S. government. Ali was found to have been at an auto mechanics shop a thousand miles away in New Orleans at the time of the robbery. But perhaps the most famous client of Lumumba’s law career was rap artist Tupac Shakur, whom he successfully defended against charges of aggravated assault on two off-duty police officers in Atlanta. His law career was marked by similar high-profile cases, but also by small victories on the behalf of people who never made a front page, and never had their names read by Walter Cronkite on the evening news. Oyatunde Amakisi, a Detroit-based activist and web designer, said of Lumumba, “He was a man who believed in family, who believed in community, and he believed they were one and the same.” The list of cases Lumumba took on could fill a novel. And not only was his caseload legendary, but it was also said he had a winning record enough to make any D.A. think long and hard about going to trial. Nubia Morenike-Polk, an archaeologist and friend of the Lumumba family, said everywhere he went, Lumumba was helping people. “I would help him type up a few documents here and there … and he would go see some of his clients in prison,” Morenike-Polk said. “About three or four times
I went with him (to see his clients), and a lot of times they just had such a good relationship with him. “He was anywhere where people had been wronged, where human rights had been violated. He and Kwame Kenyatta formed (Black emergency relief) during (Hurricane) Katrina,” she said. “They were helping people get services. They went on their own – unfunded – as a matter of trying to help people.” But it was outside of the judicial system that Lumumba fought his most recent battles. In 2009, he was elected to the Jackson City Council, and in 2013, he was elected mayor. He convinced voters to approve a 1 percent increase in the local sales tax to pay for badly-needed infrastructure repairs - a tall order in a state as financially unstable as Mississippi. In addition to serving as mayor, offering gratis legal services and being a devoted husband and father, Lumumba coached a high school basketball team in Jackson nearly every weekend. Morenike-Polk said Lumumba was always trying to free the land, and was doing his best to make sure Mississippi – and by extension, the rest of the country – would have a new life where people could live without fear and share in the prosperity the land produced. “He was the same with everybody and everywhere he went,” she said. “He just wanted the land to be free.”
THESOUTHEND.WAYNE.EDU I MARCH 19 - 26, 2014 I 5
SPORTS
WSU swimming teams compete in NCAA championships
COURTESY ADAM BOUTON
FUAD SHALHOUT The South End The Wayne State women’s swimming and diving team finished in second place at the 2014 NCAA Swimming & Diving championships, while the men’s squad placed third. The women finished with 419 points, while Drury University won the championships with 486 points. Queens (N.C.) placed third with 368.5 points. After the competition, unsurprisingly, WSU head coach Sean Peters was named the 2014 CSCAA Women’s Coach of the Year. Senior Carol Azambuja finished with her second individual national title of the competition.
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Azambuja, who won the 50 freestyle earlier in the championships, cruised through the 100 freestyle, setting a new Division II record with her time of 48.94. Junior Kristina Novichenko placed third in the 1650 freestyle and finished with a time of 16:53.77. She also won a national title in the 400 IM earlier in the NCAA championships. WSU finished the competition in the 400 freestyle relay. Azambuja, junior Gloria Martinez Perez, sophomore Elly Maleski and senior Kayla Scott finished second, posting a school-record time of 3:21.99. The Warriors earned five NCAA titles during the four-day national competition and set numerous school and national records. A total of
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13 women earned All-American honors during the meet. The men’s swimming and diving team earned its best finish in three seasons, as the Warriors placed third at the national finals. WSU finished with 358.5 points in the overall team standings and Drury won the championships with 569.5 points, while Florida Southern was second with 361 points. Junior diver Dylan Szegedi finished second in the three-meter diving finals. Szegedi had a score of 561.80, earning a second-place finish by 37.90 points. Clarion’s Heath Calhoun won the title with a record 615.95 points. Freshman Till Barthel placed fifth in the 100 freestyle finals (44.25). The Warriors swept the top two spots in the
200 backstroke “B” finals as freshman Juan David Molina Perez (1:45.92) and junior Lucas Fernandez Vilanova (1:45.94) finished ninth and 10th overall. In the 200 breaststroke finals, junior Piotr Jachowicz placed fourth with a time of 1:57.69, while sophomore Jayson Hansen was eighth in a time of 1:58.59. The Warriors finished off the championships with a fifth-place finish in the 400 freestyle relay. The relay team of Barthel, senior Kristian Larsen, Fernandez Vilanova and freshman Soren Holm earned a time of 2:57.64. Florida Southern only beat the Warriors by .31 seconds in the relay to earn second place. WSU had 10 men’s student-athletes earn AllAmerican awards during the championships.
SPORTS
Warriors bounced out in Sweet 16 by Drury FUAD SHALHOUT & RYAN RAGER The South End This is the time of year to dance. The Wayne State women’s basketball squad competed in the NCAA Division II tournament and was bounced in the Sweet Sixteen by Drury University. Here is a recap of the tournament: March 14 The Warriors advanced to the second round of the 2014 NCAA Division II tournament with a 63-58 win over the University of Indianapolis (23-9 overall) March 14 at the O’Reilly Event Center on the campus of Drury University. The first half saw nine lead changes and neither team led by more than five points. WSU took a 25-20 lead with 5:08 remaining before halftime on a fast break layup by junior forward Ashley Wilson. The Greyhounds scored the next six points before junior center Shareta Brown knocked down one free throw to tie the game at 26 with 1:24 left in the first half. UIndy had a layup in the final 30 seconds for the final points before halftime. Brown had a solid first half, leading WSU with 10 points, six rebounds, three assists and three steals, while sophomore guard Destiny Lavita-Stephens chipped in with eight points, including two threes. The second half was pretty much the same story, featuring eight ties and 11 lead changes. The Warriors came out gunning in the second half, going on a 13-7 run to take a 39-35 lead on a layup by Brown. But UIndy scored the next five points before Lavita-Stephens drained another triple at the 12:13 mark, putting WSU ahead 42-40. The Greyhounds then responded with a 14-5 run to earn their largest lead of the game, 54-47, with 6:23 remaining. From there, WSU’s defense was stifling, limiting UIndy to one field goal over the final six minutes. The Warriors ended the game on a 16-4 run thanks to a variety of key contributors: junior forward Kayla Bridges had five points down the stretch, sophomore guard Brittany Streetman knocked down a key triple, senior forward Imari Redfield had a layup and Brown totaled four points, four rebounds, three assists and a blocked shot. Brown led WSU with 18 points, along with 16 rebounds, seven assists and four steals. LavitaStephens added 16 points, while Bridges totaled nine points and six rebounds. March 16 Sweet shooting brought the WSU women’s basketball team back to the NCAA Sweet Sixteen after upsetting the second-seeded Lewis University Flyers (23-6), March 16. The No. 6 Warriors connected on 10 of 15 three-point field goals en route to an 87-80 win, tying WSU’s singleseason win record of 23 in the NCAA-II Midwest Regional Semifinal. Head coach Carrie Lohr showed yet again that she isn’t afraid to shake things up, changing the Warriors’ starting lineup for the second time in as many tournament games. Sophomore guards Kristen Long and Streetman made the start and
combined for 25 points, nine assists and one turnover in 30 and 27 minutes, respectively. Four Warriors scored in double figures, including Streetman with 13 and Long with 12, sophomore guard Lavita-Stephens added 16 and junior center Brown registered team-highs of 24 points, 14 rebounds, six steals and 4 of 6 threepoint shooting. Streetman connected from deep 30 seconds into the game off a feed from Lavita-Stephens to give WSU a 3-2 lead. LU answered right back with a jumper from Mariyah Henley, but LavitaStephens found Streetman for three again on the next possession to make it 6-4, and WSU would hold the lead the rest of the way. WSU went up 15-6 four minutes into the contest on 5 of 5 three-point shooting, all off assists, with Brown hitting two triples and Lavita-Stephens adding another after Streetman got the team started. After a Streetman steal and assist to Brown for three, WSU had a 24-12 lead with 14 minutes in the first half. LU responded, going on a 10-3 run over the next four minutes followed by an 8-4 spurt to make the game 34-30 with 7:23 in the half. The Warriors would outscore LU 13-6 for the remainder, taking a 47-36 lead into the break. Although LU shot 50 percent from the floor in the first, WSU was able to outpace them with 8 of 10 three-point shooting and dominated LU at the free throw line where they hit 9 of 13, compared to the Flyers 2 of 2. Brown led all scorers in the first with 17, including four three-point makes and four steals after the first while Kristin Itschner and Jamie Johnson scored 12 and 10 respectively for LU. Streetman struck form deep again early in the second half as WSU extended its lead 54-38 with just under 18 minutes remaining, sparking another Warrior run capped off by a triple from junior guard Ondrea Hughes to make it 63-43 with 14:27 on the clock. However, Johnson would answer with her own jumper beyond the arc on the Flyer’s next possession as she fought to keep her team alive, scoring eight points of the following 10-0 LU run that made it 63-53 with 10:46 remaining. Johnson would finish with a game-high 32 points. The Warrior offense struggled to find their shots after going up big in the second half. “This is a young team; they’ve never really been in this situation,” WSU assistant coach Kevin McAllister said. “We were just playing not to lose — we had to pick up our focus.” Brown denied a Flyer layup attempt and came up with a steal on the same defensive possession, leading the break and laying it in to make it 68-55 and give her team a spark. However, Brown picked up her fourth foul on the night and had to return to the bench with just under nine minutes in the game and her team flailing on offense. LU went on a 12-4 run to make it 72-67 with just under six minutes in the game before Lavita-Stephens answered with a pair of free throws and Long hit a jumper to bring the Warrior lead back to nine. With LU still hanging around after another Johnson triple made it 80-74 with two minutes left in the game, Lavita-Stephens came up with
COURTESY WSU ATHLETICS
a steal and ran out for a fast break layup. After forcing another stop, WSU rode out the win from the free throw line. March 17 The Warriors couldn’t muster any energy playing its third game in four days, losing Monday night to No. 6 Drury, 99-63, in the Sweet Sixteen and getting eliminated from the NCAA Division II tournament. WSU had previously defeated No. 29 Indianapolis on March 14 and No. 11 Lewis on March 16. Drury led 9-6 early in the game and then went on a 10-1 run to go up 19-7 with 14:45 left in the first half. With under 11 minutes to go, back-to-back hoops from Bridges and Jackie Jones cut Drury’s lead to 22-16. But then things got real ugly for the Green and Gold. The Panthers scored seven straight and regained a double-digit lead, then they closed out the first half on a 29-12 run for a 56-28 lead at halftime. DU shot a whopping 58 percent in the half, including 5-of-10 from behind the arc. Meanwhile, WSU was held to 28 percent shooting and just 14 percent from three-point range. Brown led WSU with 11 first half points. WSU came out strong in the second half,
scoring the first eight points as Lavita-Stephens hit a triple, Jones scored on a fast break layup after a steal by Brown, and then Brown finished the stretch with a conventional threepoint play. But that 20-point deficit would be the closest the Warriors would get, as their season came to a crashing halt in the Sweet Sixteen for the second consecutive year. Brown led the team with 19 points, while Lavita-Stephens added 14 and Redfield chipped in with 10 points. Jones had a team-best three assists and three steals, while Hughes also chipped in with three steals. Drury’s Amber Dvorak was voted as the Regional Tournament Most Outstanding Player. Brown was named to the All-Regional tournament team along with Drury’s Sanayika Shields, Annie Armstrong and Jamie Johnson from Lewis. The postseason loss shouldn’t cloud what the Warriors were able to accomplish this year. Under the watch of head coach Carrie Lohr, WSU equaled the school record for wins (23) and NCAA tournament wins (2) with just one senior on the post-season roster. They should be in the mix once again next year.
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