Box Score Wayne State 67 Winona State 63

            Wayne State junior forward Maggie Schulte reached the 1,000-point mark with her third double-double of the season Saturday evening – 24 points and 10 rebounds – to lead the Wildcats in a 67-63 Northern Sun Conference women's basketball win over Winona State.  The game had big implications in the NCAA Central Region Rankings as WSC entered the game ninth in the region and Winona State 10^th.  WSC improves to 21-6 on the year and 16-6 in the NSIC South while Winona State slips to 20-8 and 15-7 in league play.
            The game was tightly contested featuring seven ties and 10 lead changes.  Winona State built a pair of six point leads early at 10-4 and 13-7.  But WSC closed the high scoring first quarter strong and scored the final six points to take a 21-17 lead.
            WSC built a five point lead at 26-21 with 6:43 to go second quarter.  Winona State then scored six in a row to reclaim the lead at 27-26.  The Wildcats closed the half strong and took a 35-31 lead at intermission.
            The Wildcats took their biggest lead of the night at seven – 41-34 – on a pair of Paige Ballinger free throws with 6:55 left third quarter.  After Winona State closed within one at 42-41, WSC pushed the lead back to six (47-41) and finished the third quarter with a 47-42 advantage.
            Winona State scored the first five points of the fourth quarter to take a 48-47 lead.  WSC then responded with eight of the next 11 points and reclaimed the lead at 55-51 following a Schulte jumper with 5:21 remaining. 
            The Warriors took their last lead at 60-58 on a Jenny Tuttle trey with 3:45 remaining.  The 'Cats took the lead back on another Schulte jumper at 61-60 with 2:47 left.  Winona's Gabi Doud made 1 of 2 free throws to tie the score at 61.  Both teams traded baskets for the game's seventh and final tie at 63 with 54 seconds to play.
            Schulte drained a go-ahead jumper with 38 seconds left to make the score 65-63.  The Warriors missed three shots and fouled Wayne State's Haley Moore with 5.9 seconds to play.  The senior made both free throws to seal Wayne State's 67-63 win.
            Wayne State made 22 of 57 shots in the game for 38.6 percent.  The 'Cats were 4 of 15 from 3-point range and 19 for 22 (86.4%) at the charity stripe.
            Schulte led WSC with her double-double of 24 points and 10 rebounds.  16 of Schulte's points and six of her 10 rebounds came in the second half.  She is the 19^th player in school history to post 1,000 career points and now has 1,006 in her Wildcat career.  Senior forward Anna Martensen poured in 18 points on 7 of 13 shooting while Ballinger chipped in 11 points.
            Winona State connected on 23 of 59 shots from the field for 39 percent.  The Warriors were 9 for 23 behind the arc and 8 of 14 at the charity stripe.
            Liz Evenocheck scorched the nets for 27 points to lead Winona State.  Jenny Tuttle also hit double digits with 12.
            WSC held a 39-34 edge in rebounding over the Warriors thanks to 10 boards by Schulte and six from Ballinger.  The Wildcats held a 22-14 edge on points in the paint and 12-5 on points off turnovers.
            Winona State had just nine turnovers in the game to eight by WSC.  Schulte had four of Wayne State's 11 assists while Haley Moore finished with three steals.
            Wayne State finishes the regular season second place in the NSIC South Division.  The Wildcats will host a first round game Wednesday evening in the NSIC/Sanford Health Women's Basketball Tournament against Bemidji State with tip off set for 7 p.m.