#9 Wayne State 68 Minnesota State 49
Ashley Arlen and Mara Hjelle each recorded double-doubles to lift #9 Wayne State College in a 68-49 Northern Sun Conference women's basketball victory over Minnesota State Saturday evening at Rice Auditorium in Wayne. The win was the 24th consecutive at Rice Auditorium for the 19-2 Wildcats, leaders of the NSIC with a 16-1 league mark, while Minnesota State drops to 11-10 overall and 8-9 in league play.
Wayne State got off to a slow start, committing 10 turnovers in the first 10 minutes of the game. Minnesota State built a pair of five point leads early, leading 12-7 and 14-9 on a Laura Weber jumper with 11:12 to play in the first half. WSC then caught fire from the field and tied the score at 16-16 on a Mara Hjelle jumper with 8:56 remaining in the first half. Moments later, Minnesota State took a 21-18 lead on a three pointer by Lauren Barber with 6:41 left in the half. The Wildcats then scored the next nine points to take the lead for good at 27-21.
The Mavericks used a three point play by Weber to pull within three at 27-24 with 3:57 to go in the half, but WSC closed the half scoring the final six points, all by Mara Hjelle, to take a 33-24 lead at halftime.
The second half saw Wayne State slowly pull away from the Mavericks as the Wildcats took a 41-27 lead on a pair of Ashley Arlen free throws with 16:56 to go in the game. The Wildcats' first lead of 20 points came on a pair of Arlen free throws with 5:48 remaining and the biggest lead of the game for WSC was 22 points following a three point play by Eva Benson with 1:52 to play as Wayne State went on to the 68-49 win over Minnesota State.
Arlen, a 6-2 junior forward from Cascade, Iowa, recorded her sixth double-double of the season with 25 points and 13 rebounds to lead Wayne State while Mara Hjelle, a 6-2 senior center from White Bear Lake, Minnesota, notched her fifth double-double of the season with 20 points and 10 rebounds. Alyssa Fischbach added 10 rebounds for the Wildcats, her ninth game of 10 or more rebounds this season.
Wayne State shot 51 percent from the field, making 26 of 51 shots including 3 of 10 from the three point line. The 'Cats were a perfect 13 for 13 at the charity stripe.
For Minnesota State, Laura Weber was the lone double figure scorer with 11 points. The Mavericks shot just 26.2 percent from the field connecting on just 17 of 65 shots. MSU was 7 for 27 behind the three point line and 8 of 16 from the free throw stripe.
Wayne State held a sizeable 45-34 advantage over Minnesota State in rebounding thanks to Arlen's 13 rebounds and 10 apiece from Fischbach and Hjelle while Minnesota State's top rebounder was Weber with eight. WSC did have 23 turnovers to 18 for Minnesota State.
Wayne State will be on the road next weekend, visiting the University of Mary Friday evening and Northern State Saturday evening in a pair of Northern Sun Conference games beginning at 6:00 p.m. each night.
