Wayne State 77 Minnesota Duluth 67
The Wayne State College women's basketball team punched their ticket to the NCAA Division II Women's Basketball Tournament Sunday afternoon with a 77-67 win over Minnesota Duluth in the NSIC Sanford Health Women's Basketball Tournament Championship game in St. Paul, Minnesota. It's the second NSIC Tournament title for the Wildcats with the other coming in the 2006-07 season.
The Wildcats were a perfect 30 of 30 from the free throw line in the ball game. Tournament MVP Mara Hjelle earned her eighth double-double of the season with 26 points and 11 rebounds. Ashley Arlen, who was also named to the NSIC All-Tournament Team, added 23 points in the win. The win marks the 15th straight for the Wildcats and gives them a 26-4 overall record.
"What a gutsy performance by our team, this was a total team effort today," said WSC head coach Chris Kielsmeier on his post-game radio interview. "We had kids get into foul trouble in the first half and we got out of sync, but our players stepped up and got it done...They've risen to every challenge this season and they did so again today. This is a great feeling right now, it's super sweet."
The Bulldogs jumped out to an early 6-2 lead in the first two minutes, but Ali Schwartzwald hit a three pointer followed by two free throws for a 7-6 lead for WSC. The 'Cats were dealt an early blow in the game when starting center Mara Hjelle picked up her second personal foul at the 16:31 mark and had to go to the bench.
Arlen's four straight points gave WSC a five point lead at 15-10, but that was cut to two on a Jheri Booker three that trimmed the 'Cat lead to 15-13. Clare Duwelius hit a three pointer at the 14:25 mark to push WSC's lead to 18-13.
Arlen hit a three pointer at the 10:08 mark of the half to give WSC a lead of 21-16. The Bulldogs dominated the offensive boards in thefirst half, grabbing 12 offensive rebounds in the opening stanza, and used the offensive glass to cut the Wildcats' lead to 23-21.
With Wayne State leading 32-29 with 2:52 left in the half, the Wildcats hit six straight free throws and used an Alisha Brown jumper with 20 seconds left in the half to take their biggest lead of the first half at 40-33. But UMD's Jheri Booker was fouled with four seconds left in the stanza and hit two of her three free throws to cut Wayne State's lead to 40-35 going into the break.
Hjelle opened the second half with eight straight points and Ashley Arlen's pair of free throws gave WSC a 50-41 lead at the 11:56 mark of the first half. The 'Cats put together a 12-0 run over a span of 5:52 and took their biggest lead of the game at 58-41 on a Mara Hjelle jumper with 11:28 to play.
The Bulldogs would respond by going on a 12-0 run from the 9:09 mark to 5:44 left in the game to cut the Wildcat lead to 58-53. Clare Duwelius would hit four straight free throws to build the Wildcats' lead to nine at 62-53 with 4:42 remaining.
Minnesota Duluth would get as close as four on a three pointer by Jheri Booker with 3:13 left making the score 65-61. Wayne State would continue to shoot lights out from the line as the 'Cats hit 13 more free throws to extend the lead to 77-67 giving the Wildcats the 2010 NSIC Sanford Health Women's Basketball Tournament Championship.
Wayne State shot 36.8 percent (21 of 57) from the field, 35.7 percent (5 of 14) from the three point line and 100 percent (30 of 30) from the free throw line.
Minnesota Duluth shot 31.3 percent (25 of 80) from the field, 18.2 percent (4 of 22) from the three point line and 76.5 percent (13 of 17) from the free throw line. The Bulldogs out rebounded the Wildcats 48-45 grabbing 26 offensive rebounds.
Wayne State was led by Hjelle with 26 points with 16 coming in the second half. Arlen added 23 points to round out Wildcat players in double figures. Arlen was 12 of 12 from the free throw line in the ball game and was named to the All-Tournament Team.
Jheri Booker led the Bulldogs in scoring with 26 points to go along with 11 rebounds. Booker was 4 of 9 from the three point line. Lindsay Miller added 14 points to go along with six rebounds.
Wayne State will find out their destination and opponent this evening when the NCAA Division II Women's Basketball Tournament field is selected 8:00 p.m.
