#3 Wayne State 55 Northern State 50
#3 Wayne State College used a late rally to down Northern State 55-50 in Northern Sun Conference women's basketball Saturday evening at Rice Auditorium in Wayne in a game that saw Wildcat senior guard Clare Duwelius become the school's all-time three point shooter. The Wildcats registered their 41st straight victory at home, improving to 23-2 overall and 17-2 in the NSIC while the visiting Wolves drop to 13-12 on the season and 8-11 in league play.
The Wildcats had to overcome cold shooting in the first half as WSC trailed a majority of the game. Northern State jumped out to an early 10-5 lead as Wildcat All-American forward Ashley Arlen picked up two quick fouls and had to sit the final 13:47 of the first half on the bench. Redshirt freshman Jennifer Kalbfell came off the bench and gave the Wildcats a spark, scoring seven straight and nine of Wayne State's next 11 points. Her jumper at the 7:24 mark gave WSC a 16-15 lead.
However, Northern State scored the next eight points to regain the lead at 23-16 and finished the first half with a 26-18 halftime advantage after holding WSC to just 30 percent shooting in the first half (7 of 23).
The visiting Wolves maintained their lead over the Wildcats for most of the second half until the Wildcats rallied in the final five minutes for the victory. Northern State scored on their first possession of the second half to take their biggest lead of the game at 10, 28-18, but senior guard Clare Duwelius made back-to-back three pointers to fuel a 11-2 run and pulled the Wildcats within one at 30-29 with 16:24 left in the game. Duwelius' three pointer with 18:18 left in the game made her the all-time leader WSC in three point baskets, eclipsing the previous mark of 230 held by Tracy Williamson from 1999-2003.
But Northern State came right back with a 10-2 run and pushed the lead back to nine points at 40-31 with 12:44 remaining when Wayne State made another rally. The Wildcats scored nine of the next 10 points and got within one at 41-40 on a jumper by Ashley Arlen. WSC took their first lead of the second half at 48-46 with 2:39 to play on a Clare Duwelius layup. Northern State forced the game's fifth and final tie at 48-48 on a Sarah Hintz layup with 1:53 to play.
Duwelius drained a three pointer at the 1:37 mark to give the 'Cats the lead for good at 51-48. Following a missed Northern State three pointer, Ellen Hansen was fouled and made two free throws to push the advantage to five points at 53-48 with 1:01 to play. Arlen made two free throws with 26 seconds remaining to make the score 55-48 before Northern State's Alison Kusler made a jumper with 16 seconds to play making the final score 55-50.
Arlen finished the game with 19 points and moved into fourth place on the WSC all-time scoring list with 1,539 points, surpassing Karen Hochstein's 1,530 points from 1999-2003. Duwelius added 14 points and was 4 of 6 from the three point line, giving her a total of 233 career three pointers to pass the previous school record of 230 held by Tracy Williamson from 1999-2003.
WSC made 18 of 43 shots from the field for 41.9 percent, but was 11 of 20 (55 percent) in the second half. The 'Cats were 6 of 14 from the three point line and 13 of 18 at the charity stripe.
Northern State's top scorer was Alison Kusler with 16 points while Sarah Hintz added 12. The Wolves were 18 of 56 shooting for 32.1 percent, making 9 of 26 behind the three point line and 5 of 6 at the free throw stripe.
The Wolves held a slim 34-32 advantage in rebounding over Wayne State as Mikayla Barondeau and Caitlin Farroh each hauled in six boards for NSU while Ashley Arlen grabbed a game-high nine rebounds for Wayne State.
Wayne State will be at home again next Saturday hosting travel partner Augustana College in a 4:00 p.m. Northern Sun Conference contest at Rice Auditorium in Wayne.
