Wayne State 59 Winona State 58

            Wayne State sophomore forward Erin Norling converted an offensive rebound with 19.1 seconds remaining, then the Wildcats stopped Winona State on three shots in the final seven seconds to hang on for a 59-58 Northern Sun Conference women's basketball victory Friday evening at Rice Auditorium in Wayne. 
            It was the second game-winning shot for Norling against Winona State in as many years as Norling canned a baseline jumper as a freshman on February 17, 2018 to give the Wildcats a 60-59 win at Winona State.  WSC is now 10-5 on the year and 5-4 in league play while Winona State drops to 7-6 and 5-4 in the NSIC.      
            The Wildcats held the lead for just 59 seconds of the first half, leading for a short time in the first two minutes along with the final basket of the half with one second to go before halftime.
            Winona State built a pair of five point leads in the first quarter (9-4 and 11-6), but an Erin Norling layup with 10 seconds left in the quarter cut the Warrior advantage to 15-13 after one quarter.
            The Warriors took a six point lead at 21-15 with 7:23 to play in the second stanza, but WSC used a Norling jumper and a Maggie Lowe 3-pointer to tie the score at 26-26 and the 'Cats used a steal and layup from Norling to end the half giving WSC a 30-29 edge at intermission.
            WSC took a pair of three point leads in the first minute of the third quarter, but Winona State held the lead the rest of the way until late in the fourth quarter. 
            Winona State used a pair of Taylor Hustad free throws with 0.4 left in the third quarter to take a 49-43 lead, matching their biggest of the contest.
            The Wildcats opened the fourth quarter with nine straight points and took a 52-49 lead on a Andrea Larson 3-pointer with 7:14 to play.
            Winona State then responded by scoring the next seven points and built a 56-52 advantage with 2:54 left.
            A Larson trey got the 'Cats within one at 56-55, but Winona State pushed the lead back to three at 58-55 on a Gabie Doud layup at the 2:12 mark.
            Sophomore center Brittany Bongartz cut the deficit to one at 58-57 on a jumper with 1:53 to go.
            Both teams then missed shots on their next two possessions, but Norling rebounded a Busse missed layup with 23 seconds to play and converted the putback from the left side of the basket with 19.4 remaining to put the Wildcats in front 59-58.
            Winona State had three shots, a jumper by Gabie Doud, along with two offensive putbacks from Rachel Novotny underneath the basket that came up short as Wayne State held on for the 59-58 victory.
            Larson led four Wildcats in double figures with 13 points.  Bongartz and Busse each accounted for 11 points while Norling finished with 10.
            Wayne State shot 25 of 58 from the field for 43.1 percent, going 7 for 24 behind the arc and just 2 of 7 at the free throw line.
            Kayla Schaefer scored a game-high 18 points for Winona State.  Rachel Novotny added 10 points and 14 rebounds while Gabie Doud also hit double figures with 10 points.
            Winona State was 24 of 58 from the field for 41.4 percent, but hit just 3 of 16 shots in the fourth quarter (18.8%).  The Warriors connected on 6 of 20 from the 3-point line and made 4 of 6 free throws.
            Winona State held a slight 37-34 edge in rebounding with Norling grabbing eight for the Wildcats. 
            Kylie Hammer and Bongartz each handed out four assists while Norling had three steals.
            WSC will be at home again Saturday hosting Upper Iowa in an NSIC contest starting at 3:30 p.m.