#9 Wayne State 66 Minnesota, Crookston 37
#9 Wayne State held the NSIC's leading offense from Minnesota, Crookston to just 37 points and 21 percent field goal shooting as the Wildcats rolled to a 66-37 Northern Sun Conference women's basketball win over the Golden Eagles in a contest featuring the top two teams in the NSIC standings Sunday afternoon at Rice Auditorium in Wayne. WSC is now 11-1 overall and 5-1 in the NSIC with its 35th straight win at Rice Auditorium while Minnesota, Crookston falls to 6-3 overall and 3-2 in league play.
After Minnesota, Crookston scored the first basket of the game for its only lead, WSC went on a 16-2 run to take a 16-4 lead with 12:53 to play in the first half on an Ellen Hansen layup. The Wildcats never trailed by more than 10 points the rest of the first half as WSC worked the ball inside and scored 26 of their 38 points in the first half in the paint to build a commanding 38-16 halftime advantage.
WSC ended the first half shooting 17 of 28 from the field for 60.7 percent while holding Minnesota, Crookston to just 6 of 31 shooting for 19.4 percent.
The Wildcats continued their strong defensive play in the second half and maintained a lead of 20 points or more throughout the entire second half. Wayne State's biggest lead of the game was 31 points at 64-33 following a made free throw by Alisha Brown with 2:32 in the contest before finishing with the 66-37 win over the Golden Eagles.
Wayne State finished the game making 27 of 53 shots from the field for 50.9 percent. The 'Cats made just 2 of 9 from the three point line and was just 10 of 20 at the free throw stripe.
Senior All-American forward Ashley Arlen paced WSC in scoring with 19 points and a game-high eight rebounds. Redshirt freshman reserve forward Jennifer Kalbfell also reached double figures with 10 points in just 15 minutes of playing time.
Minnesota, Crookston, who entered the game scoring a league-best 73.9 points per game, made just 13 of 62 shots for 21 percent. The Golden Eagles were 2 of 17 behind the three point line and 9 of 18 from the charity stripe. Lauren Kessler and Megan Eul each recorded eight points to lead the Golden Eagles in scoring.
Wayne State finished the game with a 47-42 advantage in rebounding over Minnesota, Crookston thanks to eight rebounds by Arlen and seven from freshman center Whitney Epp. Laurie Tyson and Carli Bunning paced Minnesota, Crookston on the glass with seven rebounds.
Wayne State is off until Monday, January 2nd when the Wildcats visit Concordia-St. Paul for a 6:00 p.m. Northern Sun Conference contest.
