Box Score Wayne State 87 Northern State 82

            Wayne State College scored a season-high 87 points, led by season-highs from Paige Ballinger, Kacie O'Connor and Katie Hoskins, as the Wildcats outlasted Northern State 87-82 in Northern Sun Conference women's basketball Friday evening at Rice Auditorium in Wayne.  It was the eighth straight win for the Wildcats, now 13-3 and 8-3 in the NSIC, while NSU slips to 11-4 and 7-4 in league play.
            Senior Katie Hoskins and junior Kacie O'Connor got WSC off to a quick start as the two players combined to score the first 15 points for the Wildcats (Hoskins – 8, O'Connor – 7) to put the 'Cats in front 15-2 with 4:54 to play in the first quarter.  Northern State cut the lead to eight at the end of the first quarter 20-12.
            WSC pushed the lead back to 13 (25-12) to open the second quarter on a Paige Ballinger layup and Maggie Schulte 3-pointer, but Northern State used inside play from Jill Conrad and Miranda Ristau to get as close as four (29-25) before WSC finished the first half with a 37-31 lead.
            After WSC opened the third quarter strong and increased the lead to 10 at 49-39, Northern State went on a 10-1 run and got within one at 50-49 following a Paige Waytashek 3-pointer. 
            But the Wildcats used a strong run to end the third quarter and took a 64-54 lead on a Schulte trey to end the stanza.
            The fourth quarter turned into a free throw shooting contest as the Wildcats staved off any Wolve run by making 14 of 15 at the charity stripe in the final 10 minutes as WSC finished with the 87-82 win.
            WSC shot 51.1 percent from the field making 24 of 47 shots.  The 'Cats were 6 for 11 downtown and a season-high 33 of 41 at the free throw line (80.5%).
            O'Connor ended with a career-high 25 points, including 12 for 13 at the foul line.  Ballinger poured in a season-high 25 points that included 11 of 15 at the stripe while Hoskins produced a season-best 14 on 6 of 8 shooting.
            Northern State was 30 of 71 from the field for 42.3 percent, going 4 for 15 behind the 3-point line and 18 for 21 at the charity stripe.
            Jill Conrad scored 22 followed by Miranda Ristau with 21 for NSU.  Sara Tvedt also hit double digits with 15.
            Northern State held a sizeable 40-28 edge in rebounding over WSC thanks to 21 offensive rebounds.  Schulte led the Wildcats with six boards. 
            Senior guard Haley Moore had six of Wayne State's 16 assists while Schulte had a team-high three steals.           
            Wayne State will be at home again Saturday afternoon entertaining #18 MSU Moorhead in an NSIC contest starting at 4 p.m.