#7 Wayne State 59 Concordia-St. Paul 54
Senior All-American forward Ashley Arlen scored 12 of her game-high 16 points in the second half as #7 Wayne State College held off Concordia-St. Paul 59-54 in Northern Sun Conference women's basketball played Saturday afternoon at Rice Auditorium in Wayne. It was the Wildcats' 39th straight win at Rice Auditorium, moving WSC to 19-2 overall and 13-2 in the NSIC while the visiting Golden Bears drop to 8-13 on the season and 5-10 in league play.
The Wildcats never trailed in the game but at the same time could never finish off the feisty Golden Bears. WSC took an early 10-1 lead with 14:40 to play in the first half following a jumper by Clare Duwelius. CU pulled within two at 16-14 at the 10:36 mark on a jumper by Anika Whiting. The 'Cats pushed the lead back to seven at 26-19 with 5:52 to play in the half on a pair of Arlen free throws, but CU came right back and got as close as one point at 28-27 with 1:47 to go before halftime on a Whiting layup. WSC then finished the half with the final four points, all by Ali Schwartzwald, to give WSC a 32-27 lead at halftime.
The second half was highlighted by scoring runs for both teams. WSC opened the half strong as Arlen scored the first five points of the half to put the 'Cats up 10 at 37-27. Concordia-St. Paul responded with the next eight points and pulled within two at 37-35 on a Carissa Wolyniec three pointer with 14:45 remaining. The Wildcats then recorded 13 of the next 15 points and took their biggest lead of the night at 50-37 with 7:38 to play on an Ashley Arlen jumper.
WSC still held a 54-44 lead with 2:36 to play, but the Golden Bears would not go away and got as close as four points at 58-54 on a Wolyniec three pointer with 17 seconds to play before WSC finally held on for the 59-54 win.
Arlen finished with a game-high 16 points followed by Ali Schwartzwald with 13. Freshman center Whitney Epp added a season-high eight points off the bench to go with six rebounds and six blocked shots to tie a season high. WSC made 18 of 41 shots from the field for 43.9 percent, sinking just 2 of 7 from the three point line, while making 21 of 25 free throws.
Concordia-St. Paul was led by Anika Whiting's 14 points with Carissa Wolyniec adding 12. The Golden Bears connected on just 18 of 68 shots from the field for 26.5 percent. CU was 6 of 23 behind the three point line and 12 of 14 from the charity stripe.
Both teams finished with 38 rebounds as Ellen Hansen grabbed 11 boards for WSC followed by Epp with six while Mandy Poke hauled in seven rebounds for the Golden Bears. WSC had 19 turnovers in the game to just 11 on Concordia-St. Paul.
Wayne State will be on the road next weekend as the seventh-ranked Wildcats visit Southwest Minnesota State Friday evening (6:00 p.m.) and Minnesota State Saturday afternoon at 4:00 p.m.
