Wayne State 66 Minnesota Duluth 58
#9 Wayne State College women's basketball team defeated Minnesota Duluth 66-58 in a key NSIC women's basketball contest in Duluth, Minnesota Saturday afternoon. Junior Ashley Arlen from Cascade, Iowa tied a season-high with 26 points and grabbed a career high 17 rebounds in the victory. The win marks the first time in Wayne State basketball history that the Wildcats have defeated the Bulldogs in Duluth after the two teams have meet in eight previous meetings. Wayne State is now 12-1 on the season and 9-0 in the NSIC and has won 11 straight games. The Bulldogs drop to 7-5 overall with the loss and 5-3 in the conference.
The Wildcats struggled in the early stages of the first half as Wayne State found themselves down by 10 points halfway through the stanza. The Bulldogs and Wildcats were tied at 2-2. But the Bulldogs took control from there jumping out to a 17-7 lead.
Wayne State battled back in the last 10 minutes of the opening half as the Wildcats went on an 8-0 from the 9:12 mark of the first half to the 7:15 mark of the stanza to cut the Bulldogs lead to 17-15. UMD would build a lead back to five points (22-17) with 5:23 remaining in the first half. The Wildcats clawed their way back in once again and took their first lead of the game at 29-27 after an Ashley Arlen layup at the 3:03 mark of the first half.
The Wildcats would then close out the half on a 6-3 run to take a 35-30 lead into halftime as Arlen led Wayne State with 13 points at the break. The Wildcats closed out the half shooting 42.4 percent from the field (14-33), but WSC only shot 18.2 percent from the three point line going 2 of 11. The Wildcats committed an uncharacteristic 13 turnovers in the first half.
The Bulldogs used a 14-4 run in the opening five minutes of the second half to jump out to a 44-39 lead. Arlen drained a three pointer to end a Minnesota Duluth scoring run of 10 points at the 12:52 mark of the half. Renee Wood then went on an eight point scoring streak of her own to give WSC a 53-49 advantage at the 9:19 mark of the half as Wood hit a layup and connected on a pair of three pointers.
Mara Hjelle connected on a jumper with 2:29 remaining to give the Wildcats their largest lead of the game (10 points) 63-53. But the Bulldogs mounted a comeback of their own as Kelsey Hewitt hit a pair of free throws cutting the Cats' lead to eight and the Bulldog's Lindsay Miller cut the Wildcats lead to five with 1:25 remaining after a three pointer.
Areln then hit three straight free throws to ice the game as the Wildcats defeated the Bulldogs 66-58 giving the Wildcats their first ever win in Duluth.
Wayne State shot 40 percent from the field (24-60) and shot 22.7 percent from the three point line going only 5 of 22. The Wildcats were 13 of 17 from the free throw line shooting 76.5 percent. The Wildcats held an advantage on the boards as Wayne State grabbed 43 compared to the Bulldogs 38 rebounds.
Wayne State was led by Arlen who tied a season-high in points with 26 on the afternoon. Arlen also grabbed a career high 17 rebounds. Hjelle added 12 points and five rebounds. Renee Wood added 11 points going 3 of 5 from the three point line.
The Bulldogs shot 35 percent from the field and 42.9 percent from behind the three point line. UMD shot 70 percent from the free throw line. The Bulldogs were led by Lindsay Miller with 22 points going 7 for 15 from the three point line. Kelsey Hewitt added 14 points to go along with seven assists and six rebounds.
Wayne State will be on the road again Sunday afternoon, visiting Bemidji State in a Northern Sun Conference contest starting at 2:00 p.m.
