Wayne State 60 Minnesota Duluth 49

             #8 Wayne State captured their 36^th consecutive win at Rice Auditorium on Saturday night with a 60-49 victory over Northern Sun Conference opponent Minnesota Duluth. The Wildcats were led by Ashley Arlen who notched her seventh double-double of the season with 13 points and 14 rebounds in the win. Three other players scored in double-figures for Wayne State as Ashton Yossi had 12 points off the bench and Clare Duwelius and Ellen Hansen each netted 11 of their own. WSC improves to 14-1 overall this season and 8-1 in the NSIC while UMD falls to 8-4 overall and 5-3 in the conference.
            Wayne State led the game from start to finish for the second straight game and had their biggest lead of the game by 21 points with 6:51 remaining in regulation. The 'Cats held a 31-19 advantage heading into halftime as they shot 41.4% (12-29) from the field, 37.5% (3-8) from long range and 57.1% (4-7) from the charity stripe in the first half. Minnesota Duluth struggled shooting in the first half going 8-37 (21.6%) from the field, 1-10 (10.0%) from behind the arc and 2-4 (50.0%) from the free throw line.
            The Bulldogs quickly pulled within eight at the start of the second half as Courtney Doucette netted two buckets in the first 48 seconds but the Wildcats did not hesitate to respond. Ali Schwartzwald found Ellen Hansen for a three pointer and Clare Duwelius connected with Eva Benson for a layup all within 45 seconds to extend the WSC lead to 13 points. WSC continued to build on the lead in the second half and never let UMD within single points the rest of the contest. The Bulldogs made a late surge in the second half chipping away at the Wildcats' 21 point lead and cutting it to 11 points with 19 seconds left in regulation but it was too little, too late for UMD.
            For the game, Wayne State shot 22-54 (40.7%) from the field, 7-14 (50.0%) from three point range and 9-13 (69.2%) from the free throw line while Minnesota Duluth shot 26.0% (19-73) from the field, 23.8% (5-21) from distance and 60.0% (6-10) from the charity stripe. The Bulldogs were able to outrebound the Wildcats 49-41 including 24 rebounds on the offensive end of the court. Wayne State doubled up Minnesota Duluth in assists 18-9 as Alisha Brown orchestrated the Wildcat offense to the tune of nine assists. The Bulldog defense hounded the Wildcats into 12 turnovers while Wayne State forced Minnesota Duluth to turn the ball over 10 times. WSC's defense was anchored by freshman Whitney Epp who accounted for six of the team total eight blocks and Ali Schwartzwald led the team in steals with two.
            The Bulldogs had two players score in double-digits as Shelly Stemper and Courtney Doucette each had 11 points for the UMD offensive attack. Katrina Newman approached a double-double as she led Minnesota Duluth with nine rebounds to go with eight points. Doucette also led the team in assists with three.
            Wayne State will be at home again Sunday afternoon entertaining Bemidji State in a 2:00 p.m. Northern Sun Conference contest at Rice Auditorium.