Wayne State 68 Upper Iowa 60

            Wayne State built a 20-point lead early in the third quarter, then held back a second half comeback from Upper Iowa as the Wildcats defeated the Peacocks 68-60 in Northern Sun Conference women's basketball played Friday evening at Dorman Gymnasium in Fayette, Iowa.  WSC is now 5-2 and 1-1 in NSIC play while Upper Iowa drops to 3-6 and 0-2 in league games.
            The first quarter featured scoring runs by both teams.  After WSC jumped out to a 9-4 lead at the 4:47 mark, Upper Iowa scored the next six points to grab their final lead of the night at 10-9 with 3:22 left in the first quarter.  WSC closed the quarter with eight straight points – a Halley Busse 3-pointer and a layup and 3-pointer from Kylie Hammer – to take a 17-10 advantage after one quarter.
            WSC used a 9-0 scoring run early in the second quarter to take their first double digit lead of the night following a Erin Norling basket and Busse 3-pointer to put the Wildcats in front 26-12 at the 6:31 mark of the second quarter.
            With WSC leading 30-19, the Wildcats closed the half with seven straight points to take a sizeable 37-19 lead at the halftime break.
            But the host Peacocks came out strong in the third quarter and did not allow the Wildcats to put the game away.
            After WSC took a pair of 20-point leads early in the third quarter, Upper Iowa battled back and got as close as eight at 48-40 at the 1:58 mark of the quarter before WSC ended the quarter with a 54-42 advantage.
            WSC pushed the lead back to 57-43 on a Busse trey with 7:16 to play, but the Peacocks battled back and got as close as four in the final minute before the Wildcats held on for the win.
            The 'Cats went scoreless for nearly three minutes, but still held a 61-51 lead with 3:35 to play.
            But Upper Iowa slowly chipped away at the lead and got within four at 64-60 on a Emma Gaber 3-pointer with 30.6 seconds to play.
            WSC got a pair of Kylie Hammer free throws and a steal and layup from Norling in the final 30 seconds to seal the 68-60 victory.
            Sophomore Erin Norling led Wayne State in scoring with 19 points followed by sophomore center Brittany Bongartz with 15 points and sophomore point guard Halley Busse with 14.
            The Wildcats shot just 32.9 percent from the field on 24 of 73 shooting, including 8 of 26 behind the arc.  WSC was 12 for 16 (75 percent) at the free throw line.
            Samantha Domeyer poured in a game-high 23 points to lead Upper Iowa in scoring while Natalie Dinius also hit double digits with 12.
            Upper Iowa made 19 of 68 shots for 27.9 percent and was 6 for 24 (25%) behind the 3-point line to go with 16 of 24 (66.7%) at the charity stripe.
            WSC held a 51-47 advantage in rebounding over the Peacocks thanks to nine boards from Norling and eight by Andrea Larson. 
            Busse handed out six of Wayne State's 17 assists with Norling adding five.  Bongartz was credited with three blocked shots while Taylor Reiner and Amelia Ivester each recorded two.
            The Wildcats will be in action again Saturday playing a 3:30 p.m. contest at Winona State.