Excerpt from the Dayton Daily News
By Tom Archdeacon
It was the same crumpled pose, but this time it had a whole different meaning.
When the championship game of the Horizon League Tournament ended Tuesday, Wright State forward Symone Simmons dropped to her knees in the far corner of the court and tried covering her eyes as tears streamed down her face.
A year ago on this same Little Caesars Arena court, her WSU teammate Mackenzie Taylor was on the floor, dazed and in tears, after an unintentional, but forceful, headbutt by Green Bay’s Jen Wellnitz.
That summed up the day for WSU, which was bullied by Green Bay in an 18-point loss.
Tuesday, in yet another title tussle with the Phoenix, everything was different.
This time it was Green Bay left feeling the pain.
Wright State out-battled the Phoenix, 55-52, and when the game ended the Raiders — those who had been in the game and those on the bench — turned the midcourt into a celebratory mosh pit.
Except for Simmons.
Overcome by a rush of emotion, she dropped where she stood at the final buzzer.
“We just worked really hard for this and I was overwhelmed that it was finally coming true,” she said. “I just let it wash over me.”
The Wright State women are headed to the NCAA Tournament for the second time in program history. The only other trip was in 2014.
