Friday, December 5, 2008

Wayne State 76 Northern State 55

             The Wayne State College women's basketball team opened Northern Sun Conference play Friday evening with an impressive 76-56 win at Northern State in Aberdeen, South Dakota.  The Wildcats snapped a five-game losing streak to the Wolves in Aberdeen, winning for the first time at Wachs Arena since January 3, 2003.  WSC is now 3-4 overall and 1-0 in the NSIC while dropping Northern State to 3-3 and 0-1 in league play.

            The Wildcats registered season-highs in points, three pointers and shooting percentage in picking up the lopsided win.  WSC raced to a 46-21 halftime advantage thanks to 8 of 13 three point shooting (61.5 percent) and 19 of 36 overall shooting (52.8 percent) in the first half.  The 'Cats built a 36 point lead at 67-31 with 10:19 left in the game before settling for the 76-55 win over the Wolves.

            Four players scored in double figures for the Wildcats as freshman guard Ali Schwartzwald poured in 13 points in her first collegiate start to go with five assists and five rebounds.  Junior guard Kati Jo Christensen also scored 13 points for the Wildcats followed by Julie Ann Wagner and Alisha Brown with 12 points apiece.  The Wildcats finished the game shooting 31 of 67 from the field for 46.3 percent.  WSC was a season-best 12 of 21 from the three point line for 57.1 percent, but hit just 2 of 7 free throws.

            For Northern State, 6-6 sophomore center Krista Rabenberg scored a game-high 16 points with Emily Becken adding 14.  The Wolves made 21 of 68 shots from the field (30.9 percent) and hit just 4 of 17 three point shots for 23.5 percent.  NSU was 9 of 14 at the charity stripe.

            Wayne State held a slight 45-44 advantage in rebounding over Northern State as Mara Hjelle grabbed 10 rebounds to lead Wayne State while Rabenberg, Jodi Reinschmidt and Mikayla Barondeau each recorded six caroms to lead Northern State. WSC had 14 turnovers in the game to 15 for Northern State.

            Wayne State will face the University of Mary Saturday evening at 6:00 p.m. in Bismarck, North Dakota.