#3 Concordia-St. Paul 78 Wayne State 77

Abby Nielsen hit one of two free throws with 7.6 seconds remaining to give #3 Concordia-St. Paul a 78-77 win over Wayne State on Friday evening in Wayne.  Concordia-St. Paul moves to 17-0 overall and 8-0 in the NSIC with the win.  With the loss, Wayne State is now 12-5 overall and 5-3 in NSIC play. 

The Golden Bears led by as many as seven points in the first half and took a 34-31 lead into halftime.  The Wildcats took the lead shortly after the halftime break and led by as many as eight points in the second half.  The Golden Bears kept the game close and with the game tied at 71 with just under three minutes to play, Jamie Jones hit two free throws to give the lead back to the Golden Bears.  Teresa Case then hit a free throw for the 'Cats to cut the Concordia-St. Paul lead to one with just over two minutes to play.  Abby Nielsen hit a jump shot to give Concordia-St. Paul a 75-72 lead.  After Laquisha Cook hit one of two free throws to bring Wayne State within two points, Katie LaViolette scored to boost the Concordia-St. Paul lead to four at 77-73.  Cook then hit two free throws for the 'Cats to cut the deficit to two points at 77-75 with just over a minute to play.  After a miss from LaViolette, Jodie Boss was fouled and hit two free throws for Wayne State to tie the game at 77 with just over 30 seconds remaining.  Concordia St. Paul's Abby Nielsen took a three pointer that was blocked by Boss with nine seconds left.  However, Boss was called for a foul after the block which put Abby Nielsen on the line with eight seconds remaining.  Nielsen made one of two free throws.  Wayne State had a chance for the win, but a three point attempt by Kati Jo Christensen fell short giving the visiting Golden Bears the 78-77 win.

Wayne State shot 38.5 percent from the field in the game hitting 25 of 65 shots while Concordia-St. Paul hit 28 of 70 shots for 40 percent.  The 'Cats hit 22 of 31 free throws on the evening for 71 percent while the Golden Bears hit only 12 of 22 from the free throw line for 54.5 percent.  Concordia-St. Paul hit 10 three pointers on the evening compared to only five for Wayne State.  Concordia-St. Paul dominated the glass with a 55-36 rebounding advantage. 

Laquisha Cook had a game-high 29 points to lead WSC in the loss.  Andrea Schoepf was the only other player in double figures for the Wildcats with 11 points.  Jodie Boss had seven points, 11 rebounds and also set a WSC single game record with 10 blocked shots on the evening.  Katie LaViolette had 21 points, seven assists and five rebounds to lead Concordia-St. Paul.  Amanda Behnke added 12 points and Abby Nielsen had 11 points for the Golden Bears. 

Wayne State will be back in action tomorrow evening hosting MSU Moorhead.  The game is set to tip off at 6 p.m. at Rice Auditorium in Wayne.