#4 Wayne State 78 Southwest Minnesota State 58
Senior All-American forward Ashley Arlen scored 22 of her game-high 23 points in the second half to lead #4 Wayne State in a 78-58 Northern Sun Conference women's basketball win Saturday evening over Southwest Minnesota State at Rice Auditorium in Wayne. The Wildcats remained unbeaten at 8-0 overall and 2-0 in league play while Southwest Minnesota State drops to 1-5 on the season and 0-2 in league play.
The Wildcats got off to a slow start as the visiting Mustangs jumped out to an early 10-3 lead in the first five minutes of the contest. Then senior guard Clare Duwelius went on a scoring spree, dropping in a layup and two three pointers in a span of 1:45 to give WSC its first lead at 11-10. Wayne State pushed the lead to 11 at 25-14 on an Alisha Brown layup with 5:59 to play before halftime and the Wildcats led by as many as 12 points at 28-16 with 4:38 to play before SMSU made a run to close the first half, cutting the Wayne State lead to three at halftime 33-30.
Wayne State and Ashley Arlen started the second half on fire to put the game away. Arlen scored six of Wayne State's first 10 points in the second half as WSC took a 43-30 lead with 18:11 to play following an Arlen layup and Southwest Minnesota State never got closer than 11 points the rest of the night as the Wildcats pulled away for their 33rd straight home win at Rice Auditorium. Southwest Minnesota State was the last team to beat the Wayne State women in Rice Auditorium in the final game of the 2008-09 season (February 25, 2009).
Arlen poured in 22 of her game-high 23 points in the second half to lead Wayne State while recording her fifth double-double of the season. Clare Duwelius had the hot hand in the first half, scoring 16 of her 21 points in the opening 20 minutes. Ashton Yossi and Alisha Brown each added 10 points off the bench for the Wildcats who shot 50 percent from the field making 26 of 52 shots. WSC was 8 of 16 from the three point line and 18 of 24 at the free throw stripe.
For Southwest Minnesota State, senior center Abby Kenealy scored 18 points followed by Bree Holleman with 14 and Ellen Degler 11. The Mustangs shot 22 of 51 from the floor for 43 percent, hitting 6 of 13 behind the three point line. SMSU was 8 of 12 at the free throw line.
WSC outrebounded the Mustangs 32-27 thanks to 10 boards from Arlen and six by Ellen Hansen while Taylor Voss and Jessie Watts led SMSU on the boards with five apiece.
Wayne State is on the road next weekend, visiting Northern State in Aberdeen, South Dakota Friday evening at 6:00 p.m. followed by a 4:00 p.m. contest Saturday afternoon at the University of Mary in Bismarck, North Dakota.
