Augustana 71 #6 Wayne State 52
25 turnovers and a season-low 31.4 percent field goal shooting doomed the Wayne State College women's basketball team Saturday evening as the NCAA Division II sixth-ranked Wildcats suffered a 71-52 loss at Augustana College in Northern Sun Conference play at the Elmen Center in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The win by Augustana forges a first-place tie in the NSIC with both teams at 9-2 in league play while WSC is 15-2 overall and Augustana sporting a 12-3 mark following the win.
Wildcat sophomore forward Ellen Hansen scored the first five points of the game for WSC, giving the 'Cats an early 5-2 lead. Augustana went on a 10-0 run to take a 12-5 lead and would never trail again. Trailing by seven points several times in the first half, WSC made runs at the Vikings to get back into the contest. With Augustana leading 17-10, the 'Cats reeled off seven straight points and knotted the score at 17-17 on a Alisha Brown layup with 6:46 to go before halftime. Augustana then scored the next seven points to go in front 24-17. The 'Cats pulled within one at 26-25 with 52 seconds to play before halftime on a pair of Clare Duwelius free throws before Augustana took a 28-25 halftime lead.
The first part of the second half was close until the Vikings held WSC without a basket for a stretch of 7:20 to take control of the contest. Wayne State's Ashley Arlen's three point play forced the game's fourth and final tie at 33-33 with 16:58 to play. After Augustana took a six point lead at 40-34, Hansen drained a three pointer for the Wildcats to pull within three at 40-37 with 13:32 to play. But Augustana held WSC without a basket for the next 7:20 and had a commanding 55-37 lead by the time Arlen scored a basket with 6:12 remaining to end the scoreless drought as the host Vikings went on to the 71-52 win.
Ellen Hansen led the Wildcats in scoring with a career-high 17 points, going a perfect 5 of 5 from the field, 3 of 3 from the three point line and 4 for 4 at the free throw stripe. Ashley Arlen added 16 points and had a career-high six steals for the Wildcats while Clare Duwelius finished with 10 points, giving her 997 points for her career.
WSC shot a season-low 31.4 percent from the field, making just 16 of 51 shots including 7 of 20 from the three point line. The 'Cats were 13 of 19 from the free throw line.
Alex Feeney, a 6-0 junior forward, poured in a game-high 25 points to lead Augustana followed by Lydia Nelson with 17 points. The Vikings shot 49 percent from the field on 25 of 51 shooting. Augustana was just 2 of 12 from the three point line and 19 of 27 at the charity stripe.
Wayne State held a 38-29 edge in rebounding over the Vikings with Arlen leading the Wildcats on the glass with nine rebounds while Feeney grabbed a game-high 11 boards for Augustana. The Wildcats had 25 turnovers in the game compared to 14 on Augustana as the Vikings scored 31 points off Wildcat turnovers.
#6 Wayne State is on the road again next weekend, playing Northern Sun Conference games at Winona State Friday at 6:00 p.m. and at Upper Iowa Saturday at 6:00 p.m.
