#8 Wayne State 91 Winona State 57
The #8 Wayne State women's basketball team rebounded from a poor shooting night on Friday to power past Winona State 91-57 in Northern Sun Conference women's basketball played Saturday evening at Rice Auditorium in Wayne. The Wildcats remain in first place in the NSIC, improving to 23-2 overall, 16-2 in the conference, while Winona drops to 8-14, 4-14 in the NSIC.
The two teams traded baskets early in the first half, as there were five lead changes and four knotted scores in the first six minutes of the game.
Jordan Spencer scored the first four points for the Wildcats, before
Addy Roller recorded a steal and drained a three point basket to give WSC the early 7-5 lead with 17:49 to play. Back-to-back layups by Winona's Abby Busch flipped the score to a two-point edge to the Warriors.
A pair of
Ashton Yossi free throws and a
Shantel Lehmann basket knotted the game at 11-11 with 14:53 to play. The Wildcats then went on a 7-0 run, thanks to five points by Yossi and a steal and fast break layup by
Ellen Hansen to take the 18-11 lead with 12:20 to play in the opening frame.
Wayne State would extend their lead to as many as 16 in the opening half, using three point baskets from
Michaela Barry, Whitney Olsen and Hansen to go up 36-20 with 3:16 remaining in the frame. A trio of trifectas from Winona's Tara Roelofs, Connor Nagle and Kali Hackmann pulled the Warriors to within nine with just a minute to play in the first half.
But back-to-back baskets by the Wildcats, including a jumper in the paint by
Addy Roller as time expired put the Wildcats up 42-29 heading into the locker room at half.
The Wildcats were dominant offensively in the opening period, shooting 56.7 percent (17-30) from the floor in the frame. Yossi led the way in the first half with nine points, with Hansen and
Jordan Spencer each contributing six points apiece.
The second half would play true to the first, with Winona scoring the first basket of the half before WSC went on a 12-0 run to extend their lead to 54-31 with 16:10 left to play. And the WSC offense wouldn't stop there. A layup by
Jordan Spencer and a pair of three pointers from
Millie Niggeling and Yossi extended the Wildcats lead to 62-33 with 13:04 left in the game, forcing the Warriors to take a 30-second timeout.
Wayne State's potent offense continued to strike, scoring on nine straight possessions from the 14:18 mark to the 11:05 mark to take a 71-33 lead. The span capped a 17-0 run for the Wildcats, including eight from Niggeling. A Hansen three-pointed extended the WSC lead to a game-high 41 points, leading 74-33 with just under 10 minutes to play in the game.
Winona would close the game with a 24-20 advantage over the final 10 minutes, but the gap was too much for the Warriors to overcome.
Four different Wildcats finished in double-figures on Saturday night, pacing the Wayne State offense. Hansen, Yossi, Niggeling and
Jordan Spencer combined for 57 of the 91 points, but 11 different Wildcats contributed offensively on the night. After finishing the game on Friday night against Upper Iowa just 1-16 from beyond the arc, WSC responded to shoot 47.6 percent from three point land, 10-21. Hansen and Yossi each finished with three triples on the night.
The Warriors were led by Abby Busch's 14 points, while Kelsey Andrist added 11 on the night. WSU was held to 32.8 percent shooting from the field. The Warriors did hold a 36-35 edge on the glass, led by Connor Nagle's seven rebounds.
Jordan Spencer pulled down a game-high nine boards for WSC in the win.
Wayne State will be at home again next weekend entertaining #22 Northern State Friday at 6 p.m. and MSU Moorhead Saturday at 4 p.m. in Rice Auditorium.
