CSU Pueblo 59 Wayne State 48
Wayne State College went 11:07 without a basket in the second half as 7th-seeded CSU-Pueblo rallied from an 11 point second half deficit to shock the 2nd-seeded Wildcats 59-48 Friday afternoon in the first round of the NCAA Division II Central Regional Women's Basketball Tournament in Durango, Colorado. The ThunderWolves advance to Saturday's semifinals with a 21-10 record while ending Wayne State's season at 26-5.
“We didn't play close to our ability today,” remarked WSC head coach Chris Kielsmeier. “We looked exhausted and out of sync. Today's an example of what athletics is all about, it just wasn't our day. When you play in these types of games it's a process, you have to grow through the process and we learned the hard way today. This is gonna burn for a while, but I'm here to tell you that we will be back and better next year.”
The Wildcats used strong defense in the first half to build a nine point half time lead (27-18), holding CSU-Pueblo to just 24 percent shooting (7 of 29). Mara Hjelle scored the first four points of the game for WSC followed by an Ali Schwartzwald layup that put the 'Cats up 6-3 at the 16:32 mark. Moments later, CSU-Pueblo's Erica Hicks scored back-to-back baskets to give the Thunderwolves a 10-9 lead with 13:21 left in the half. Wayne State's Ashley Arlen then scored the next six points for the Wildcats to give WSC a 15-10 lead at the 10:05 mark.
After CSU-Pueblo's Kendall Babler hit a three pointer to get the ThunderWolves within two at 15-13 with 8:31 left in the half, Wayne State's Mara Hjelle took over inside and scored the next 10 points for the 'Cats as WSC slowly built their lead at the end of the first half. Back to back baskets by Hjelle at the 3:12 and 2:18 marks followed by an Ashley Arlen basket with 1:39 left in the half allowed WSC to close the half with the final six points to give WSC a 27-18 lead at halftime.
The second half saw WSC build an 11 point lead early as Hjelle opened the half with an offensive put back followed by Kati Jo Christensen three point that put the 'Cats ahead 32-21 with 16:45 to go in the game. The ThunderWolves used back to back baskets by Katrina Selsor to cut the Wildcat lead to six at 34-28,but Hjelle responded with back to back buckets to put WSC back up by 10 at 38-28 with 13:04 left. CSU-Pueblo got within six points again at 40-34 with 11:58 left following a Babler three pointer, but Arlen hit a three on the next possession to push the 'Cats lead back to nine at 43-34.
But WSC went ice cold from the floor, going 11:07 without a basket, as CSU-Pueblo rallied for the win. A basket by Caitlyn Jewell with 5:52 left in the game gave the ThunderWolves a 46-44 lead, their first lead since early in the second half. CSUP would score another 11 points before WSC ended its scoring drought on a Mara Hjelle basket with 35 seconds left in the game that made the score 57-46 as CSU Pueblo went on to the 59-48 win.
“In all my years of coaching I've never seen anything like that,” said WSC head coach Chris Kielsmeier about the WSC scoring drought. “We just couldn't make any shots and we made some poor reads. Games come down to making shots and plays and give them (CSU-Pueblo) credit, they made shots and plays and we didn't.”
After shooting 48 percent (12 of 25) in the first half, WSC hit just 9 of 28 shots in the second half and finished the game shooting 21 of 53 from the field for 39.6 percent. The 'Cats were 3 of 14 from the three point line and 3 of 6 at the charity stripe.
Mara Hjelle led all scorers with 27 points and 12 rebounds for WSC, going 12 of 26 from the field. Ashley Arlen added 13 points and 10 rebounds for the Wildcats.
For CSU-Pueblo, Kendall Babler had 19 points and six rebounds on 6 of 11 shooting, including 4 of 5 from the three point line. Katrina Selsor contributed 14 points and 11 rebounds for the ThunderWolves, who shot 20 of 56 from the field for 35.7 percent, hitting 9 of 23 shots behind the three point line. CSUP was also 10 of 12 at the free throw line.
CSU-Pueblo held a slight 36-34 edge in rebounding over WSC while the Wildcats had 20 turnovers to 15 for theThunderWolves.
Wayne State ends the season at 26-5 and has just one senior, Kati Jo Christensen, on the team.
