Box Score Wayne State 87 St. Cloud State 77

            Sophomores Paige Ballinger and Maggie Schulte combined for 53 points with 41 coming in the second half as the Wayne State College women's basketball team posted a come-from-behind 87-77 Northern Sun Conference victory over St. Cloud State Saturday evening at Rice Auditorium in Wayne.  It was the sixth straight win for the Wildcats, now 11-6 overall and 8-4 in league play, while St. Cloud State drops to 9-7 and 8-4 in the league.
            The win was also a milestone victory for WSC head coach Chris Kielsmeier, who became the all-time wins leader in Wayne State women's basketball history.  Kielsmeier is now 183-52 in his eighth season at WSC and moves past Ryun Williams, who was 182-106 in 10 seasons at Wayne State (1998-2008) for the most wins by a Wildcat coach.
            With the exception of the first basket of the game, Wayne State trailed the entire first half. 
            The 'Cats were down 20-14 after one quarter and trailed by as many as 13 in the second quarter (43-30 and 45-32) before cutting the Husky lead to eight at halftime 45-37.
            Similar to Friday night's game, WSC came out on fire to start the second half to erase a halftime deficit as the Wildcats took control of the game in the third quarter.
            Wayne State outscored St. Cloud State 27-12 in the third stanza and turned a 45-37 deficit into a 64-57 lead after three quarters.
            The Wildcats took the lead for the first time since the opening minute of the game at 51-50 on a Maggie Schulte jumper with 5:31 to play in the third quarter. 
            With the score tied at 57, WSC closed the final 2:14 of the third quarter with seven straight points to take the 64-57 lead into the fourth quarter.
            The Huskies got as close as four at 64-60 early in the fourth quarter, but WSC reeled off nine of the next 11 points that included seven straight from Paige Ballinger to give the 'Cats their first double digit lead at 73-62 and WSC maintained a double digit lead the rest of the game to win 87-77.
            Ballinger led WSC in scoring with 32 points, 20 in the second half.  The Pender sophomore was 12 of 17 from the field and 8 for 11 at the free throw stripe.  Schulte recorded all 21 of her points in the second half, going 6 of 13 from the field and 4 of 6 from the 3-point line.
            Jasmin Bretoi also reached double figures for the Wildcats with 10 points.
            Wayne State finished the game shooting 30 of 48 for a season-high 62.5 percent.  The 'Cats were 9 of 13 from the 3-point line and 18 for 22 at the charity stripe.
            Betsy MacDonald and Chelsea Nooker led St. Cloud State with 17 points apiece while Kyli Van Klei also reached double figures with 10.
            The Huskies shot 32 of 73 from the field for 43.8 percent, including 9 for 20 behind the arc.  SCSU was just 4 of 5 at the foul line.
            Both teams had 30 rebounds in the contest.  Ballinger hauled in nine boards with Schulte grabbing eight to lead WSC while Nooker recorded eight rebounds for St. Cloud State.
            WSC had 16 turnovers in the game to just nine by SCSU.  Sadie Murren, Schulte and Ballinger each were credited with five assists for WSC while Haley Moore and Ballinger each had two blocked shots.
            The Wildcats will be on the road next weekend, visiting Upper Iowa Friday night at 6 p.m. and #12 Winona State Saturday in a 4 p.m. contest.