Wayne State 62 Southwest Minnesota State 55
The Wayne State College women's basketball team overcame 20 turnovers to register their 11th consecutive win Wednesday evening as the Wildcats posted a 62-55 Northern Sun Conference victory at Southwest Minnesota State in Marshall, Minnesota. WSC is now 22-4 overall and remains tied for second in the NSIC with Augustana at 15-4 in league play while Southwest Minnesota State slips to 15-11 on the season and 9-10 in the NSIC.
The Wildcats jumped out to a quick 10-4 lead with 15:43 to go in the first half on a Kati Jo Christensen three pointer. WSC took their biggest lead of the first half at seven (13-6) with 13:39 left in the half on a layup by Mara Hjelle, but the host Mustangs stayed close with the 'Cats and took a 22-21 lead on a three pointer by Tori Fink with 5:10 to play in the first half. WSC closed the half strong and took a 29-24 lead at halftime.
WSC opened the second half strong and took a pair of 11 point leads early in the second half. A Christensen three pointer and a three point play by Hjelle to start the second half gave the 'Cats a 35-24 lead with 18:44 remaining in the game. SMSU came right back and went on an 11-2 run to cut the WSC lead to two at 37-35 on a Taylor Voss trey with 15:02 to play. The Wildcats followed with a run of their own scoring 11 of the next 13 points to take a 48-37 lead following an Ashley Arlen layup with 10:55 to play.
Southwest Minnesota State made one more run at the Wildcats and got within one point at 56-55 on another Voss three pointer with 2:14 to play. WSC then held the Mustangs without a point the rest of the way and the Wildcats used a layup and two free throws by junior Alyssa Fischbach followed by a pair of free throws by Kati Jo Christensen with 30 seconds left to seal the 62-55 win.
Sophomore forward Ashley Arlen led four Wildcat players in double figures with 17 points followed by Mara Hjelle with 16 points and 11 rebounds for her eighth double-double of the season. Alyssa Fischbach added 11 points with Kati Jo Christensen scoring 10 to round out double digit scorers for Wayne State. The Wildcats shot 20 of 44 from the field for 45.5 percent, hitting just 4 of 14 behind the three point line. WSC was 18 of 27 (66%) at the free throw stripe.
For Southwest Minnesota State, Tori Fink poured in 16 points followed by Abby Kenealy and Taylor Voss with 10 points apiece. The Mustangs shot 41.5 percent from the field making 22 of 53 shots, including 6 of 13 from the three point line. SMSU was 5 of 7 at the free throw line.
WSC won the rebounding battle 35-27 thanks to 11 boards by Hjelle and six each from Fischbach and Arlen while SMSU's top rebounder was Fink with six. The Wildcats had 20 turnovers in the game to 17 for SMSU.
Wayne State will wrap up the regular season on Saturday afternoon hosting Bemidji State in a 4:00 p.m. Northern Sun Conference game at Rice Auditorium on Senior Day.
