Retirees Association

Archdeacon: Raiders senior endures NCAA tourney game with broken wrist

Emily Vogelpohl

Excerpt from the Dayton Daily News

By Tom Archdeacon

Wright State had a big secret.

One that included a clothing cover-up.

Clandestine practice sessions.

And a vow by all the members of the team to zip their lips in the days leading up to the Raiders’ NCAA Tournament game with Texas A&M on Friday at the Aggies home court, Reed Arena, here in College Station.

“I just told the kids not to say anything to anybody,” admitted WSU coach Katrina Merriweather.

In a practice session six days before the Raiders would fall 84-61 to the 14th-ranked Aggies, Emily Vogelpohl – the starting point guard, the No. 6 all-time career scorer at WSU with 1,381 points, the heart and soul of the team – broke her right wrist in a freak accident.

“It was Emily being Emily,” Merriweather said. “I call her a kamikaze. She doesn’t stop.

“Anisja Harris was shooting and Emily was playing defense, just hustling and chasing down the shooter. She ran up behind her and tried to swat upwards to tip the ball away. Just then Anisja’s elbow came down from the shot and it hit her right on top of the bone.

“Immediately her fingers went numb. And when she didn’t practice the next day — she never misses practice — I was like. ‘Oh boy, we got us a problem here.’”

Although she said she knew she’d hurt her shooting hand, Vogelpohl was stunned when she learned last Monday that her wrist was broken:

“I’m not gonna lie. When I got the news, I was devastated.”