#15 Wayne State 75 Southwest Minnesota State 61

            Wayne State College used 17 points each from senior forward Jordan Spencer and freshman forward Maggie Schulte as the 15^th-ranked Wildcats registered a 75-61 Northern Sun Conference women's basketball win Friday evening over Southwest Minnesota State at the R/A Facility in Marshall, Minnesota.  The Wildcats move to 10-3 overall and 4-3 in the NSIC while SMSU drops to 0-11 and 0-7 in league play.
            The host Mustangs jumped out quickly on the Wildcats, taking a 14-6 lead six minutes into the contest. 
            WSC slowly chipped away at the SMSU advantage and took their first lead of the game at 22-21 following an Alex Nelson layup with 7:02 to play in the first half.
            The 'Cats used back-to-back 3-pointers by Kacie O'Connor and Haley Moore to take a 29-21 lead at the 5:16 mark of the first half.
            With WSC leading 31-25, the Wildcats scored eight of the next points to take their biggest lead of the game (13 points) at 39-26 before finishing the first half with a 39-28 lead at intermission.
            Wayne State held a double digit lead for the first part of the second half until the Mustangs mounted a rally midway through the half.
            Leading 50-40 with 11:00 to go in the game, SMSU cut into the Wildcat advantage and got within one at 54-53 following back-to-back 3's from Annessa Rosch with 7:51 remaining.
            But freshman Maggie Schulte drained a 3-pointer followed by a pair of free throws and two more free throws from senior Jordan Spencer put the 'Cats back up eight at 61-53.
            SMSU got as close as five at 66-61 on a pair of Ellen Degler free throws with 2:24 to play.  WSC then scored the final nine points of the game, including 7 for 7 at the free throw line, to finish with the 75-61 win.
            Schulte and Spencer led the Wildcats in scoring with 17 points apiece.  Schulte was 6 for 10 from the field and 3 of 4 at the foul line to produce a career-high in scoring while Spencer made 6 of 12 shots from the field and was 5 of 6 at the charity stripe.
            Wayne State finished the game making 24 of 49 shots for 49 percent.  The 'Cats were 7 for 19 (36.8%) from the 3-point line and made 20 of 23 free throws for 87 percent.
            Annessa Rosch scored 17 points to lead Southwest Minnesota State while Ellen Degler and Hope Bonlander added 12 and 10 points respectively.
            SMSU shot 44.4 percent from the field on 24 of 54, going 4 for 15 behind the 3-point line and 9 of 11 at the free throw line.
            The Mustangs held a slim 29-28 edge in rebounding over the Wildcats thanks to six rebounds from Degler while Wayne State's top rebounder was Spencer with six.
            SMSU had three more turnovers in the contest, 20-17, while WSC had eight blocked shots to none for the Mustangs.  Schulte notched four blocks for the Wildcats.
            WSC had 15 assists and 14 steals in the game.  Millie Niggeling had a career-high six steals followed by Spencer with five.  Schulte, Niggeling, Spencer and Haley Moore were each credited with three assists.
            The Wildcats will be in action again Saturday playing at the University of Sioux Falls in a 4 p.m. contest.