#3 Wayne State 80 University of Mary 63

             #3 Wayne State made a season-high 14 three pointers on just 27 attempts and avenged an earlier loss to Mary with a convincing 80-63 Northern Sun Conference women's basketball win Friday evening over the Marauders at Rice Auditorium in Wayne.  It was the 40^th straight home win for the Wildcats, who remain in first place in the Northern Sun Conference at 16-2 in league play and 22-2 overall, while Mary drops to 15-7 and 12-6 in the NSIC.
            The visiting Marauders took an early 9-2 lead on the Wildcats as junior center Linda Murray scored six of Mary's first nine points in the opening 3:29 of the game.  WSC responded with a 13-0 run over the next 5:56 and took a 15-9 lead on Alisha Brown's layup with 10:35 to play in the half.  
            The 'Cats used a 15-4 run over the following 4:26 and took their biggest lead of the first half at 17 points, 30-13, on a pair of Clare Duwelius free throws with 6:09 left in the half.  Mary pulled within nine at 30-21 before WSC finished the first half with a 35-23 lead on a putback by Ashley Arlen for her only two points of the first half.  The Wildcats sank 6 of 11 three pointers to take the lead and used the hot shooting from beyond the arc in the second half to put the Marauders away.
            After Mary pulled within seven of WSC early in the second half at 35-28, the Wildcats put the game out of reach by making five consecutive three pointers to highlight a 17-2 run as WSC took a commanding 52-30 lead with 16:48 remaining followed back-to-back long balls by Duwelius.  The 'Cats later pushed the lead to 24 points and maintained a sizeable lead the rest of the way as Wayne State went on to the 80-63 win.
            Four players scored in double figures for Wayne State as senior All-American forward Ashley Arlen led a balanced attack with 16 points, moving her into fifth place on the all-time WSC scoring list with 1,520 points.  She moved past Lori Erwin-Koester's 1,517 points from 1997-81.  Senior guard Clare Duwelius followed with 15 points, Ali Schwartzwald scored 14 and Ashton Yossi chipped in 11.
            WSC made 26 of 58 shots from the field for 44.8 percent including a sizzling 14 of 27 behind the three point line.  The 'Cats were 14 of 22 from the charity stripe.
            Mary's top scorer was Linda Murray with a game-high 29 points, going 11 of 15 from the field.  She also hauled in 10 rebounds for the Marauders who made 23 of 64 shots for 35.9 percent.  UM was 5 of 22 from the three point line and 12 of 19 at the charity stripe.
            Mary held a slim 42-39 advantage in rebounding over Wayne State thanks to Murray's 10 rebounds while Arlen grabbed eight boards for WSC.  The Wildcats had just nine turnovers in the game compared to 13 on Mary.  Ali Schwartzwald handed out five assists and moved into fourth place on the all-time assists list at WSC with 320.
            Wayne State will be at home again Saturday afternoon hosting Northern State in a 4:00 p.m. Northern Sun Conference contest at Rice Auditorium in Wayne.