Wayne State 62 Colorado Christian 51
#9 Wayne State defeated Colorado Christian 62-51 Saturday afternoon in a non-conference clash played in Wayne, Nebraska. The Wildcats improved to 2-0 on the young season while Colorado Christian falls to 0-2. WSC had four players score in double-figures in the victory while shooting 39 percent from the field.
Ashley Arlen got the Wildcats on the scoreboard first drilling two free throws 1:30 into the contest to give Wayne State the early 2-0 lead. Wayne State briefly trailed for 20 seconds in the first half after a Kayla Fakelman gave CCU a 16-15 lead with 8:18 remaining in the first half. Wayne State recaptured the lead 20 seconds later when Arlen hit a layup to put the Wildcats up 17-16. Wayne State then closed out the half on a 13-4 (eight of those points came on free throws) run in the final 6:22 to take a 30-22 lead into the locker room. The Wayne State bench outscored Colorado Christians' bench 13-8 in the first half. Wayne State held the edge in points in the paint at the half 8-6 while CCU had the advantage in points off turnovers 7-6.
Wayne State wasted little time scoring the first basket of the second half when Arlen scored a layup off an assist from Clare Duwelius to extend the lead to 32-20. Wayne State then scored the next six in a row with two three points from Duwelius to bolster the 'Cats lead to 18 points. Wayne State built their biggest lead of the game on another three pointer by Duwelius with 13:08 left in regulation to give WSC a 23 point lead 52-29. CCU chipped away at the lead for the next 13 minutes but could never get closer than 11 as Wayne State walked away with the 62-51 victory.
WSC shot 39.1 percent from the field (18-46), 40.0 percent from three point range (8-20) and 75.0 percent from the free throw line (18-24) for the game while CCU shot 35.8 percent from the field (19-53), 42.9 percent from behind the arc (3-7) and 76.9 percent from the free throw stripe (10-13). The Colorado Christian defense forced 23 Wayne State turnovers while the Wildcats' defense created 20 of their own. Wayne State held a slight rebounding advantage 36-31 while also edging CCU in assists (12-9) and blocks (4-1). Colorado Christian did hold the advantage in steals with 12 to Wayne State's 11.
Duwelius led the Wildcat scoring attack with 17 points on 6-12 shooting from the field and 5-8 from behind the arc. Ashley Arlen and Ellen Hansen each posted 10 points and nine rebounds for the Wildcats and Ashton Yossi was also in double-digits with 12 points. Ali Schwartzwald and Arlen tied for the team lead in assists with three apiece while Arlen also led the team in steals with three as well.
For Colorado Christian, Stephanie Allen was leading scorer with 13 points and teammate Christina Whitelaw was also in double-figures with 11. Whitelaw led the team in rebounding (6), assists (4) and steals as well with four.
Wayne State will be on the road next weekend, visiting South Dakota School of Mines Friday evening at 6:00 p.m. followed by a 5:00 p.m. Saturday evening contest at Chadron State College.
