Wayne State 75 #5 Concordia-St. Paul 70
Andrea Schoepf recorded career-highs of 25 points and 12 rebounds to lift Wayne State College in a 75-70 upset win at 5th-ranked Concordia-St. Paul Saturday evening in Northern Sun Conference women's basketball. The win secures a second place finish for the Wildcats in the NSIC at 12-6 in the league, avoiding a four-way tie for second place with Winona State, MSU Moorhead and Mary (11-7). WSC is now 19-8 overall while dropping regular season NSIC champion Concordia-St. Paul to 25-2 and 16-2 in league play.
With the exception of five ties, Wayne State led the entire game but the contest was close throughout. The Wildcats built a pair of 10 point leads in the first half at 30-20 following a Teresa Case three pointer with 7:21 left and 32-22 on a jumper by Mara Hjelle at the 5:53 mark. But the host Golden Bears held WSC without a point for the rest of the half and recorded the game's second tie at 32-32 entering halftime.
After the two teams exchanged a pair of ties early in the second half at 34-34 and 36-36, WSC took a pair of five point leads before Concordia-St. Paul evened the score for the final time of the game at 49-49 with 11:22 remaining. Then, Wildcat senior guard Andrea Schoepf scored seven straight points for the 'Cats on a three pointer, a layup and two free throws to help the Wildcats take a 58-51 lead with 8:17 left. The 'Cats took their biggest lead of the second half at 71-63 on a pair of Schoepf free throws with 3:06 to go, but the Golden Bears made one more run at the Wildcats and pulled within three at 73-70 with 52 seconds left after a pair of free throws by Candace Olstad.
Both teams had missed opportunities down the stretch until WSC sophomore Jennifer Yee sank a pair of free throws with 4.7 seconds left to secure the 75-70 win.
With CSP trailing by three points following Olstad's basket, the Wildcats could not convert a layup by Schoepf and the Golden Bears got the ball back with 31 seconds left. Olstad missed a shot with 18 seconds left and Mara Hjelle was fouled after grabbing the rebound, but the Wildcat freshman missed two free throws to give the Golden Bears another chance to tie the game. A missed three pointer by Kelly Lund with nine seconds left was rebounded by CSP's Kali Olstad, who was fouled, but she missed both free throws with 5.9 seconds left. Yee was then fouled on the inbounds pass with 4.7 seconds left and made both charity tosses to seal the upset victory.
Schoepf's career-high night of 25 points was highlighted by making 12 of 12 from the free throw line. Laquisha Cook and Teresa Case each accounted for 13 points with Kylee McGill finishing with 11. The Wildcats shot 24 of 58 from the field for 41.4 percent, hitting 6 of 17 three point shots. WSC was sizzling from the free throw line canning 21 of 24 shots for 87.5 percent.
Amanda Behnke led Concordia-St. Paul with 19 points and 13 rebounds followed by Candace Olstad with 12 points. The Golden Bears made 23 of 63 shots for 36.5 percent, including just 5 of 24 from the three point line. CSP was 19 of 30 at the charity stripe.
Concordia-St. Paul held a slight 42-40 advantage in rebounding over Wayne State. Behnke's 13 boards led the Golden Bears while Schoepf capped her first career double-double with 12 boards, a career-high, to lead Wayne State. McGill added seven rebounds for the Wildcats.
Wayne State will host #7 seed Northern State in the first round of the NSIC Women's Basketball Tournament on Saturday, March 1 in Wayne with game times to be announced Monday.
