#9 Wayne State 61 Northern State 54
The NCAA Division II 9th-ranked Wayne State College women's basketball team captured the Northern Sun Conference regular season title Saturday evening with a come-from-behind 61-54 victory at Northern State in Aberdeen, South Dakota. It's the second NSIC regular season title in the program's history, joining the 2005-06 Wildcat team as Northern Sun Conference regular season champions. Wayne State is now 21-2 overall and 18-1 in the NSIC while Northern State slips to 16-7 on the season and 13-6 in league play.
“It feels great,” said WSC women's basketball coach Chris Kielsmeier after the game on his post-game radio interview. “I'm so proud of these players. The whole night the message was to make plays and we finally did down the stretch. Towards the end of the game we got some big baskets from Ashley Arlen and Alisha Brown. I also thought, for the most part, we defended them (Northern State) really well.”
The Wildcats won the game despite poor field goal shooting as WSC connected on just 31 percent (18 of 57) from the field, but the persistent Wildcats used a 45-35 rebounding advantage and strong free throw shooting (19 of 24) to rally in the final nine minutes for the win.
The game was close early as the two teams exchanged several leads with two ties. The Wildcats held a 10-8 lead following a jumper by Ali Schwartzwald with 14:56 to play in the first half. But the Wolves went on a 12-0 run and held WSC scoreless for a stretch of 5:56 and took a 10 point lead at 20-10 on a Emily Becken three pointer with 9:14 to play in the first half. WSC then got defensive and responded with a 14-3 run and regained the lead at 24-23 with 2:52 left in the first half on a jumper from Alisha Brown. Northern State then used a Brittany Eurele three pointer to end the half with a 26-24 lead over the Wildcats.
With the exception of one tie (29-29), Northern State held the lead for the first part of the second half and took their biggest lead of the second half at six points (38-32) on a Jacqee Jasinski three pointer with 11:30 to go in the game. With Northern State holding a 40-37 lead on a Krista Rabenberg jumper with 9:46 to play, Wayne State put together nine straight points and took the lead for good. The Wildcats held Northern State without a point for 4:56 and took a 46-40 lead following two Alyssa Fischbach free throws with 6:33 to play.
The Wolves did not give up and got within one point at 48-47 on a Rabenberg jumper with 3:51 remaining in the game. But WSC used a three point play and another basket by Ashley Arlen and a jumper from Alisha Brown with 1:10 remaining to go in front 55-49. The Wildcats then made 6 of 8 free throws in the final minute to pull away for the 61-54 win over the Wolves to clinch the NSIC regular season title.
Ashley Arlen, who did not score a point in the first half, scorched the nets for 19 points in the second half and added 14 rebounds for her eighth double-double of the season to lead Wayne State in scoring. Senior center Mara Hjelle contributed 13 points while Clare Duwelius added 12. Wayne State made just 18 of 57 shots from the field for 31.6 percent and was 6 of 20 behind the three point line. The 'Cats were a respectable 19 of 24 (79.2%) at the free throw line.
Emily Becken paced Northern State with 14 points while 6-6 senior center Krista Rabenberg chipped in with 13 points and 11 rebounds. Jodi Reinschmidt also reached double figures with 11 points for the Wolves who shot 21 of 59 from the floor for 35.6 percent. NSU was also 6 of 20 from the three point line and hit 6 of 10 free throws.
Wayne State won the rebounding battle over Northern State 45-35 thanks to Arlen's 14 rebounds and another 10 by Alyssa Fischbach while Northern's top rebounder was Rabenberg with 11. The Wildcats had 12 turnovers in the contest to 11 for Northern State.
Wayne State will be on the road again next weekend as the Wildcats visit travel partner Augustana College next Saturday afternoon in a 4:00 p.m. contest at the Elmen Center in Sioux Falls.
